Religion of China

GOVEENMBNT OF INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
LIBRARY

Class__

Call No.

1

D.O.A. 79.

THE RELIGION OF
CHINA

MAX WEBER

THE RELIGION OF

CHINA

CONPVCIAS1SU AND TAOISM

I fc.

TAAKSLATED AND EDITO) BV HAN5 H. CEUTH

2^9'5L '

19 5 1

THE TREE PRESS, CLENCOE, ILLINOIS

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Ct?ptjrigfU J9S1 by Tius Free Prcss^ a COTpE?rofiVn
MAHVFACXURiet> IN TlJfi UMlTED STTATRH OF AM^niCA
hyf Sidney So/otfeoti

AttOW * ► ■

Nt'V UfiLHl

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CONTENTS

1 ^

Frefatonj Note

I^AIIT ONE-SOaOLOClCAL FOUNDATIONS

I . CiUj^ iYmce oiid God 3

1. On Chinne Mtimy 3

2. City And Culld 13

3^ Frinoely AiIiniiusUnHon and the Cnn<Nijpt3on of Dcjly:

A CompAilsDn with ths Middle 20

4. The ChrtriCTnciHc nnd Fonti:fical PoidtiOA of the CenhrAl
Momuch 30

II. TheFetMthtliindFfCb^dalStotc ' SS

h The Charismatic Natunsr ol Fcudollmi 33

2* Tliv Bestof aLjqii of ihe Uniltpd niTreAiicrati(5 Stats dS

3. Central Gov^^minGiit and Local OUlcluildvm 4T

4. Ftihho ChargiesL tho CDivde-StAte and the Tax-^teta 30

5. OHicialdoni imd Tax Collecdati hy Qiiota Levies ^

III. Adminislralion and Rural Stmcture 93

1. Feudul md Fiscal Or^aini7J)itqoii 64

2. Artuy Oxg)&ni 2 *ition and Wang An-shih'j Attempt at

Reiann 75

3. The FihoaJ Proteetfon of Peajints and Its Remits for

Rural Society 70

IV. Self-Gavemment, Law, and Capitalism 84

1. Absence of CspitiUijt Rclalicuslups 84

2^ Tho AsafxdatLon 66

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CONTENTS

PAGE

3. Organization of the Sib

4. Self-Government of the Chinese Village 91

5. Sib Fetters of the Economy 95

6. TTie Patrimonial Structure of Law 100

PART TWO—ORTHODOXY

V. The Literati 107

1. Confucius 110

2. The Development of the Examination System 115

3. The Typological Position of Confucian Education 119

4. The Status-Honor of the Literati 129

5. The Gentleman Ideal 101

6. The Prestige of Officialdom 103

7. Views on Economic Policy 106

8. Sultanism and the Eunuchs as Political Opponents of

the Literati 108

VI. The Confucian Life Orientation 142

1. Bureaucracy and Hierocracy 142

2. Absence of Natural Law and Formal Logic of Legal

Thought 147

3. Absence of Natural Sciences 150

4. The Nature of Confucianism 152

5. Freedom from Metaphysics and Innerworldly Nature

of Confucianism 155

6. The Central Concept of Propriety 156

7. Piety 157

8. The Confucian Attitude Toward the Economy and
Confucianism's Rejection of the Professional Expert 159

9. The Gentleman Ideal 161

10. The Significance of the Classics 163

11. Historical Development of Orthodoxy 165

12. The ‘‘Pathos” of Early Confucianism 167

13. The Pacifist Character of Confucianism 169

PART THREE—TAOISM

VII. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy 173

1. Doctrine and Ritual in China 173

2. Anchoretism and Lao-tzu 178

3. Tao and Mysticism 179

4. The Practical Consequences of Mysticism 180

CONTENTS

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PACE

5. The Contrast Between the Orthodox and Heterodox

Schools 181

6. Taoist Macrobiotics 191

7. The Taoist Hierocracy 192

8. The General Position of Buddhism in China 195

9. The Systematic Rationalization of Magic 196

10. The Ethic of Taoism 204

11. The Traditionalist Character of Chinese Orthodox and

Heterodox Ethics 205

12. Sects and the Persecution of Heresies in China 213

13. The Tai Fine Rebellion 219

14. The Result of the Development 224

VIII. Conclusions: Confucianism and Puritanism 226

Notes 250

Glossary and Index 298

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PREFATORY NOTE

I

-HE PUBLICATION of Max Weber s Confucianism and Taoism
now makes available to the English reader the entire first volume
of Weber s Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion, a work
which Professor A. D. Nock has evaluated as “not merely work
of great abihty, but of genius

Talcott Parsons has pubhshed The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism (London, 1930), the essay which sets forth
Weber s basic thesis. It has given rise to an entire hterature.^ The
essay volume From Max Weber, edited by H. H. Gerth and
C. Wright Mills, Oxford Press (New York, 1946) includes the
companion piece, “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capi¬
talism” and the introductory essay to the present volume. For
contextual reasons we took the hberty of substituting the title
“The Social Psychology of the World Rehgions” for the original
heading “The Economic Ethic of the World Religions, Compara¬
tive Essays in the Sociology of Religion, Introduction.” We have
named this volume The Religion of China in order to avoid the
isms. The last essay, “Zwischenbetrachtimg,” of the German vol¬
ume, leading over to the study of Hinduism and Buddhism, has
been pubhshed in the aforementioned essays From Max Weber.

1. Talcott Parsons, The Structure of Social Action (New York and London,
1937), pp. 500 f., footnote 1.

2. Ct. Hans Gerth and Hedwig Ide Gerth, "Bibliography on Max Weber,”
Social Research, voL 16, no. 1 (March 1949) pp. 70-89.

» X €

PREFATORY NOTE

For our principles of translating Weber we refer the reader to
the Preface of the essays. We feel encouraged by Professor Baum-
garten who evaluates the English editions to be “in part more
readable” than the original text.^ We hope that the present volume
will not fall short of this mark. Possibly we have felt freer than
before to drop what in hteral translation would seem to be super¬
fluous and redundant words making for overwritten prose in
English.

Despite our aim to transpose Weber s thought from one lan¬
guage into another the frequent use of the term sib instead of
dan might give the text the flavor of a “translation.” By now
Baden Powell's usage of the term clan for Far Eastern kinship
groups seems to be common usage. A. M. Henderson and Talcott
Parsons have honored it in their translation of Weber s Theory of
Social and Economic Orgamzation (New York, 1947). In spite
of the precedent and with great hesitancy we have felt obliged
to use the term sib rather than clan for Sippe as Weber rejected
the “Irish term clan as ambiguous” and used the term sib in a
technical sense for “gentile charismatically outstanding agnatic
descendants of charismatic chieftains.”^ As the term sib has not
become obsolete as yet in sociological literature and Joseph K.
Folsom has used it in his The Family and Democratic Society
(New York, 1943) we prefer it to clan at the risk of deviating
from common usage.

Weber was no sinologist and published his study of China
without the benefit of a sinologist's revision of his text. As he was
no pedant he freely used transliterations from the Chinese as
found in English, French,. German and Russian romanizations.
Naturally this presented some diflBculties to us. I am grateful to
my sinologically trained colleague. Professor M. L. Barnett, for
going over the galley proofs and checking the romanizations of

3. Eduard Baumearten, “Versuch iiber die menschlichen Gesellschaften
und das Gewissen,’^ S^iidi'um Generate, voL 3, no. 10 (September 1950),
p. 547.

4. Max Weber, The Hindu Social System, tr. by Hans Gerth and Don
Martindale, University of Minnesota Sociology Club Bulletin, no. 1 (1950)
p. 66. (German text: p. 56, footnote 1.)

PREFATORY NOTE » Xl €

Chinese names and phrases. Some fine points were Idndly settled
by Professor Y. T. Wang.

First draft translations of several chapters have been revised
some years ago by Messrs. Joseph Bensman and Bernard Green-
blatt. I am grateful for their valuable assistance. Special thanks
are due to Dr. Patricke Johns Heine for her careful reading of the
manuscript and niunerous stylistic improvements. Dr. Hedwig
Ide Gerth has rendered valuable assistance throughout.

I am grateful to Professor C. Wright Mills and the publishers,
Oxford University Press, New York, for their kind permission to
reprint the chapter “The Chinese Literati” of the essay volume
From Max Weber.

Hans Gertti

Madison^ Wisconsin
Spring 1951

PART f

SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER I

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD‘

I I. On Chinese Money

N SHARP contrast with Japan, China was already a country of
large walled cities in times prehistoric by our conception. Only
cities had a canonized local patron with a cult and the prince was
primarily lord of a city. Even in the ofiBcial documents of large
constitutive states the term for “state” remained “your capital” or
“my humble city.” And even in the last third of the 19th century
the definite subjection of the M too (1872) was accomplished by
a compulsory synoecism, a collective settling in cities, just as in
ancient Rome until the 3rd century. In effect the taxation policy
of the Chinese administration strongly favored the urban residents
at the expense of the open country.® From early times China was
the scene of an inland trade indispensable for providing the needs
of large areas. Nevertheless, because of the preponderance of
agrarian production, money economy was, until modem times,
scarcely as well developed as it was in Ptolemaic Egypt. Sufficient
indication of this is to be found in the monetary system—in any
case partially to be understood as a product of disintegration—
with the exchange rate between copper currency and silver bul¬
lion (the coinage of which was in the hands of the guilds) con¬
tinually fluctuating from time to time and from place to place.*
Chinese currency^ combines extremely archaic features with
apparently modem elements. The sign for “wealth” still retains
the old meaning of “mussel” (pet). It appears that as late as 1578

• 3 €

> 4 M

THE HE MO ION OF CHINA

tributes In ^hell mone}' still issued from Yunnan (a mining prov-
inecl). There Is sttU a diameter for **cokis” whidi means ''tor¬
toise shell''® Pm pe (silk money) is said to Kavo existed under the
Chous, and payment of taxes In silk is found in many varying
periixis. PeariSj preduiis sLoiies^ and iiu arc cited aJiiJigside tliese
as old bearers of monetary function^ and even the usurper Wang
^lang (after 7 a.i>.) tried in vain to set up a mouetaiy scale in
which torfoaso shells and sea shdls fqncduncd alongside gold.
Silver and eopper as means of payment Conversely, but from on
sidmittediy unreliable uecoun^ the radonalistlc miilier of tbu
Empire, Shih Huang Ti, had only "ronrur coins exst from copper
and gold (i and olif^n), forbidding ah other media of eschaugc
or payment—again without success. Silver seems to have become
important as a cunrenc)' metal only in late times (under Wu Ti,
end of 2nd centiny ilc^) and as a tas on the Southern provinces^
only in 1035 A,n. This was doubtless attributable to technical
facturs: the golil was of the pamiiiig type and ctipper was origi*
mlly obtained by a reUtivf?ly easy technical process. But silver
could be obtained only by full-scale mining and the mining as
well as the coining techniques of the Chinese remained on a
completely primitive level. The coins, allegedly made as early as
the IStb century^ B,c. (but probably actually only in the 9th) and
first inKcxilHjd about 200 B.d, were cast rather lijan stamped-
Hence they could be very' easily imitated. Also their intr^sic
ctmtent varied greatly, much more so than Euiopean coins up to
the I7th century (n-g-+ Enghsli crowiia varied up to lOS), Eighteen
pieces of the same issue in the 11th century ranged in weight,
acoording tu Biot s fLuding, from £.7 grams to 4.03 grains^ 6 pieces
of 620 A-D. issue ranged frKsm 2.5 tn 4.S9 grams^ copper. For thjg
reason alone they were neither unambiguous nor utilizable sland-
ards for trade. Fnim time to time the gold reserves were suddenly
augmented by Tatar bcxjty gold, only rapidly to decline again.
Therefore, gold and silver early became very scarce, silver in
spite of the fact that it would have been worthwhile to operate
tlie mines by ejdsting techniques.'^ Copper remained the currency
of everyrday trade. The far greater e^eponsion of prccioms metals

ClTYj FKINCE ANt> i;DD » 5 <

m the Ocddent Wii5 well known to thfi omialJsb, especially of the
Hojq pcnod. Id fact Lhc many large aimuai ^Ilk caravans wMch
were s^ipplied by tributes m kiDd brought occidental gold into the
Cfountcy, as evidenced by Roman coins that have been found. This
of course ecased with the cud of the Romau Empire^ and only lu
the period of the Mongol Empire was the currency situation
improved.

Trade with tlic West readied a luruiDg point in the period
after the opening of the Mescican-Peruvian silver mines, For their
yield llowcd in considerable portron to China in exchange for
silk> poTcelain,^ and Tin? duprcdatiuu of idlver iii relation to
gold is e^'ideuced in the following ratios i

1363 .

IS40

,lfi:l

l^f ^TTT-,m-wmm

.. fill

I85t^ ...

,. - 1-1:1

1635..

.. 10:1

1SB2.

18il

J737 ..

.. 20:1

But the Tisicig valuation of silver whidi Game in the wake of in-
creasmg ucc^ for silver money nonetheless caused the price of
(popper tu decline relative to silver. Ailuiug and iiiiutiiig were
reg^ft of political audiority; even the nine semidegendary de^-
portnicnts mcDtioned in the Chou Li Include the master of the
mint. The mines were operated partly unticr piblic management
with corvic'^ and partly by private operators, but the government
monnpolized the puTcliasc of the yield- The diserepauey between
price and costs is sufficient esplan^itiun for the veiy low output.

The high costs of transporting the copper to the mint in Peldng
—which sold everything in excess of state coinage nectls—ermsid-
eiably mcreased the cost of minting. These costs were tremendous
111 themselves. In the 8Ui century {752 according to Ma Ttiau-lln)
each of the 99 existing minting plants reportedly produced about
3,530 tnin (lUOO pieces each) in copper coins annually. Each re¬
quired 30 laborers for tliLs^ and u tiliz ed 21,200 chin {550 grams
each) of copper, 3700 chin of lead, and 500 of tin. The cost of
manufacturing lOOO pieces amounted to 750 pieces^ j.e,, 75 per¬
cent. To this must be added on exorbitant minting profit claimed
by the monopolized mint,'' ncmiiialiy 25 percent. Tlie constant

> «

THE ItELlCION OF tMlNA

battL* whiob was wagcstl through dll thfi cuntiuifis against the
fabulously profitable counterfeitiug was made hopeless by this
aloQc. The mining districts were threatened by enemy invasion,
it was nnt uncommon for the government to buy copper for coin.'
age from foreign coimiiies (e.g,, Japan) or to confiscate private
copper holdings In order to assure fulfillment of the large coinage
requirements. From time to time regalia and public opemdon
were extended tn practically all metal mines. The silver mines
paid a very considerable royalty to the Kwangtimg uumdarins
involved. (In Kwangtong in mid-lDtli century, these royalties
amounted from 20 to percent; or in combination with lead,
S5 percent.) Such revenue was the chief source of income for
these inandarins in return for a lump payment made to the gOV-
ettunent. The gold mines, located maiidy in Yunnan Province,
like all others were allotted in small fields to mining master crafts-
meo for small-scale operation, and each paid up to 40 percent
royalties according to cnitpuL As late as the 17tb century the
mines were ruported as poorly ejqjloited from a technical stand¬
point. The reason, apart from the difficulties created by the
geotnancers* (see Chapter Vll, 9), was the general traditionalism
uiberent in the political, economic and ideological stiuelurc of
Thi.s traditionalism repeatedly caused the miscarriage of
all serious monetarj' reform. Itegarding the debasement iif cinn-
age, it is further mentioned at a very early dote in the Annals
( Cbuang Wang and Ch u) that the imposition of debased oiinage
foiled. We are told of the great dishirbaacc of trade when, under
Emperor Ching Ti, gold coinage was debased ftir the first time—
but by no menus the last.

Obviously, the basic evil was the fluctuation of monetaiy
metal.'* The North, the defense area against the barbarians of
the Steppes, suffered much more from this than the Soutli, which
os the seat of trade was always belter provided with means of
circulation. The fiiumciag of every war forced mouetory reforms,
and copper coins were converted to the manufacture of arms
(comparable to the use of nickel ooins in Germany during World
War 1). With the rcstOiatlOD of peace the country was flooded

CITY. PRINCE AND COD » 7 «

With copper since tlic “demobilized" soldiers freely uteed army
property . Any political unrest could dose the mines. TTie shortage
or surplus of coinage is reported to have resulted in price finetU'
atiODs which ure amazing even when we allow for prebable
*^^^iggf?ration. Agoio and again uumeroui^ private counlerfciting
mints emerged, undoubtedly tolerated by the offi^dals. The various
saLrapies aUo regularly defied the state monopoly. Desperate
because it failed in eadi and irv'Ery attempt to eoforce die
monopoly, die government repeatedly allowed the private citizen
to mint money according to Set Standards. It was done first under
Wen TJ {175 D.C.) and naUirally riisuhed in complete mouetaiy
muddle. To he sure after this first c-rperuiiont Wii Ti promptly
succeeded in rcstonog the mming monopoly, fie abolished thu
private mints and by impro^ong the minting technique (hard-
rimmed coins) the prestige of state couiji was raised. But the
necessity of financing warfare against the Hsiung Nu (the Huiis)
™at ail times contributive to monetary muddle—resulted in issuing
credit eurrency of white deer .skinn Moreover, the ease with which
his riJver coins could be imitated eventually eoiidemued this
attempt to failure.

Probably as a rcsuJt of puhticaJ unrest^ the shortage of mintiiig
metaJ under Yuan Ti (about 40 b.c.) was as great as ever.^^ Fob
lo\\tog this the usuri^r Watig Maug vainly experimented with
coiiiage scales of 28 different types of coins. Since tlieii nu gov¬
ernmental restoration of gold and silver coinage seems to have
been recorded, but in any case it liad fH:«rurred only occasionally.
Folk wing the banks' example/- the government first issu^
means of cj^ehange in 807/^ a practice which flourished espe¬
cially under the Mongols. At first, in the macmer of the banks, the
issue was bused on motak hut later this was less and less So. The
tiiemury of the debasement of coinage and the deprL^uation of
the assignats has since firmly established bank oirrency. Bank
currency used silver bar dupusits as the base for means of ex¬
change in wholesale trade, (^eubtlog in tael units. Despite the
very low prices of c'Opjicr eurreney, the latter meant a hremendotis
increase in minting costs and besides was a cumbersome form of

» 8 «

THE KET,ir-lOJf OF CHINA

monev for trade. Thus it was a bindriuice to the development of
the money economy since the charges for monuy transport were
high.

Originally a string filed with 1000 copper coins (ch'ien) was
equivalent to 1 and later to M an ounce of silver. Tlie flncluations
of available amounts of copper also remained very' important in
peace time because of the industrial and arti%tic uses of copper
(Buddlia Statues) which tangibly affected prices and taxes. The
wide varixations of the mint price and its inffncncc on the price
level have thus regularly dnojiied to failure the attempts at estab¬
lishing a iiuitied budget on the basis of pure or approximately
pure money' taxes. Eepcatcdly It was necessary to fall back (at
lex^t in liart) on taxation in kind 'ivith its natural stereotyping
ramifications bir the economy.'^

Besides direct defense requirements and other biidgetoiy con¬
siderations, the central authorities were primarily concerned willi
price policy in mouey matters. Inflationary tendencies, SUch as
decontrol of coinage for the sake of stimulating the priKluction of
copper money, alternated with ooimtGr-inJlationary measures,
such os closure of part of tlie mints.^® Above all, currency con-
sideratLDUS played a role in tlie prolUbition and control of foreign
trade. This was because loss of money was feared if imports worn
free and a deluge of foreign money fearKl if exports were free,^^
To be sure, the persecution of the Buddhists and Taoista was
essentially determined by religions policy, but monetary reasons
of state were often co-determining factors. Stimukted by monas¬
tic art, the Buddha statues, vases and paroments and the con¬
version of coinage to artistio uses repeat^ly endangered the cur-
remy. The melting of coiuagc en masse led t» a great shortage
of money and the hoarding of ctipiier, as weU as to price declines
which ended in a barter economy.^' Tlie state systematically
looted the monasteries, imposed tariffs on copper gfHidH,^ and
finally^* attempted to monopolize the manufacturing of bronze
and copficr gpods. Later this State monopoly was extended to all
metal goods in order to bring private dilution of coinage under
control Both measures failed in the long run. The accumulation

CITY, FftTXCE AKn COn

^ f) ^

of Itmd wfi 5 prohibited (to be discussed below), a prohibitiou
which was enforced with varying efficiency by officials who re¬
peatedly acciinmiUted cnnsiderable sii™ of copper in their owu
hands. During periods of money shortage high taaes were levied
on moiiitid wealth. Maximal moucy holdings were dellocd*'^ with
increasing frequency for reasons of price pt>Hcy and budgetary
considerations. The situadon was not improved by recurrent at¬
tempts to change to imn money wducli was used for a time along
wdth copper* The official petition mentfoned in the time of Schi-
tong (tontli century) dciuandcd that proGts from coinage be re¬
nounced and the utilization of metal decfmtrnllei:! in order to avoid
monopoly prices on metal goods and the concomitant stimulus
given to its industrial utilization. This was not carried out.

Fabler money was dealt with similarly. Tlie bank Issues at first
were obviously of the quality ol those ccrtiiicates by means of
which wholesale trade usually i^iards itself against currency
muddle. T*aicT they became essentially a means of exchange for
faclUtatlng interlocal remittances. These bank issues provoked
imitation. Ihe technical prerequisite was tlie emergence of the
paper industry^ imported since ^c 2nd century and a suitable
process of printing wood cuts»“* especbliy relief cuts rather dirm
the earlier intaglio process. Early in the ninth century tliK state
began to remove the pmfiLihle exchange opportunities from tho
traders" hands. At first the principle uF an cxdbmge fund of M to K
was taken over* Note issues based on a fiscal monopoly of bank
deposits are also to be found later. Naturally Elds wa^ not all. The
iiutcs, whicli w^crc first reproduced from wood cuts and then from
copper engravingaj were quickly w’om because of the poor
quality of paper. Becatise of tho sbnrtage of coinage metal iu war
the notes became illegible with increased use. This led to the re-
ductlOD of coins to the smallest dcuomiuations, the lepudiatiou of
the illegible paper sUps, and the levying of a charge ftjr printing
new money for old,®^

Above all, it led to die elimination of the metal reserve,^ or
at kast it made it mure tlifficuU to eKchange paper money as the
place of exchange shifted to the interior.^* At first withdrawal of

> JO «

THE hEI.lClOM OF CHINA

currency from circuktion was spaced over a sliort period but ttii^
was ktCT extended from 22 to 25 yearsMostly new notes, often
of lower denomination,™ were issued for old ones, which were
turned in, Ecpeatedly authorities refused tn accept the old notes
for all tax payments. These measures discredited |}aper money
again and again. Naturally the frequent orders to effect every
large payment in defined quotas of paper money,^ or the occa¬
sional prohibition of payment in metal did not chedi this.

The repeated withdrawal of all paper money from circulation
led to defiatiun and lower prices. Iteeureent attempts to Ineiease
the means of ciroulation in a planucd manner faJl^ because the
temptation of all-out infiation, for budgetary reasons,, always
promptly anists. Under normal eonditiojiis tliu ratio of note dxeti-
lation to coinage roughly remaiued that of 18th century England
(1 to 10 or even IcssJ. Inflation was brought about by war and
by luas of mining districts to the barbariaiix. Though less relevant,
the use of metal for industrial, or rather, artistic purposes wax also
conducive to iuBatioii at times when great wc^th was accumu-
kted and the monastic foundations of Bucldhism were buHt. The
aftermath of war always led to hankmptcy of the currenty, remi-
niseent of tlie assignats of the French revolubon. The Mongol
mlcra (Kublai IChan) had tried to issue graded metal certificates
{?), a measure which Marcu Polo, as is tenown, greatly admired,**
but this led to a tremendous inflation. As early as 1283 the cur¬
rency was devalued by SO percent; tlien the great influx of .silver
brought it back into circulation. Thereupon an attempt was made
to establish cxdiange rates between gold, silver and copper (gold
tn .silver Ifl, actually 10, 25:1. An ounce of silver equalled 2005
ch’ien, hence copper was devalued by SO percent), Private posses¬
sion of gold and silver bars was forbidden and precious metal
was only to he coverage for the certifle^tes. The predous metal
and copper industries were laltcn over by the state and no co ins
were minted. ActualJy tliis led to a pure paper currenev. With
tlie fall of thu dynasty it was abolished.

The Ming resumed orderly minting. That gold and silver were

w 11 *

ClTY^ PBrnCH AND COD

allegedl)r valued in the ratio of 4 to 1 is a characteristic example
of tht in^tabilitj^ of the price ratios of precious metds. Soon the

\firig pruliibitecl gold and silver (jii 1875 )> and tlicn copper
money (In 1450because the paper tnoney which was circulated
at the same time was devalued. Therewithp paper euncncy
seemed to be definitely established. Vet 14S9 is the last year for
which the annalists mention paper money* The 16th centuiy wit¬
nessed great efforts to eoin copper but these efforts also failed.

In the IGtb centuiy conditinnjs became tolerable witli the influx
of Eiirojican silver through direct trade* By the end of the 16th
century the silver standard (biiUiou—actually bank) was adopted
in wholesale trade. Copper coinage was resumed and the ciipper-
silver ratio changed considerably at the expense of copper**^
Paper money of all sorts remained completely suppressed after
it was [jrohihited by the Mings in 1620, a prohibition honored by
the Manchus. The slow but considerable iDcrcase of the metal
reserve Is expressed in the Increasing pecuniary idnichire uf state
budgetary acctninte. The issue of paper money by the state during
the second Tal P'ing rebellion ended in a devaluation and repudi-
uLeod .dmilar tu tliat of the OsSiguatSH

Yet the circulation of silver bullion caused great difficultiEiS.
It had to he weighed each time, and it was considered legitimato
for provincial bankers to recover tlieir higher costs by using scales
othei* than those used In the port cities. The grain of silver had
to be tested by silvez^mitlis. Because of the great proportionate
inc^ase iu silver payments the ceutral gnvenimcut dtfmanded a
certificate stating the place of Origin and the examining board of
each silver bar. The silver w'as molded in the form of a shoe and
differed in grain by rCgiOUS.

Obviously these conditious necessarily led to bank currency.
In wholesoJe places the hankers^ guilds, whose bills of exchange
were honored evetywherep sponsored gJiild organization and en¬
forced payment of all omuiicrcial debts in bonk money* To be
sure, during the l&th centmy there wt-re rceoimneudationN that
thu 5 tate introduce paper currency (memorial of 1681)*^ *rhe

» 12 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

arguments remained exactly those of the beginning of the 17th
century and the Middle Ages: namely, the industrial use of copper
was said to endanger monetary circulation and therewith price
policies. Although bank money was said to surrender currency
control to the traders, paper currency was not introduced then.
The salaries of the oflBcials—the most powerful interest group—
were substantially paid in silver. Because their income oppor¬
tunities depended on trade, broad strata of oflBcials shared the
interest of the traders in opposing the interference of the Peking
government in currency matters. In any case, all provincial oflB¬
cials were unanimously against any strengthening of central
finance, above all, against financial control by the central govern¬
ment.

The mass of the petty bourgeois and small holders was little
or not at all interested in changing existing conditions. This was
so despite, and partly because of, the great decline in the pur¬
chasing power of copper, a decline which had been gradual
through the centuries. Here the technicaUties of Chinese bank
credit and exchange may be left aside. We would only like to
mention that the tael, the standard unit of account, circulated in
three main but also some minor forms. Moreover, the grain of the
bars carrying a banker s stamp and moulded in the form of a shoe
was quite unreliable. For quite some time the state had no longer
enforced a tariflF on copper coins. In the interior the copper stand¬
ard was the only eflFective one, but the silver hoard, and especially
the rate of its growth since 1516, was quite significant.

We now face two peculiar facts. I. The strong increase of
wealth in precious metals had unmistakably led to a stronger
development of the money economy, especially in state finance.
This, however, did not accompany a shattering of traditionalism,
but rather its distinct increase. Capitalist phenomena, as far as
can be seen, were not eflFected to any tangible extent. 2. The
enormous growth of population, to be discussed below, was
neither stimulated by, nor did it stimulate, capitalist develop¬
ment. Rather it was, to say the least, associated with a stationary
form of economy.

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD

» 13 «

2. City and Guild

DURING Antiquity in the Occident the cities, and during the
Middle Ages, the cities, the papal curia, and the emerging states
were vehicles of financial rationalization, of money economy and
of pohtically oriented capitalism. But, in China, we have seen
that the monasteries were even regarded as detrimental to the
retention of a metal standard. In China, there were no cities like
Florence which could have created a standard coin and guided
the state in monetary policies. And the state, as shown, not only
failed in its currency policy but also in its attempt to establish
the money economy.

The valuation of temples and of many other prebends^^ pri¬
marily as payment in land was characteristic imtil recent times.
Thus, the Chinese city, despite all analogies differed decisively
from that of the Occident. The Chinese character for city means
“fortress,” as was also true for occidental antiquity and the Middle
Ages. In Antiquity, the Chinese city was a princely residence^^
and until modem times primarily remained the residence of the
viceroy and other dignitaries. In such cities as those of Antiquity
and, let us say, the Moscow of the period of serfdom, it was pri¬
marily rent that was spent. This was partly groimd rent, partly
income from oflBce prebends, and other income that was either
directly or indirectly politically determined. Of course the cities
were the usual locus of trade and crafts, the latter to a noticeably
lesser degree than in the occidental Middle Ages. The village, too,
had the right to open markets under the protection of the village
temple but no urban market monopoly was guaranteed by state
privilege.^

In contrast to the Occident, the cities in China and throughout
the Orient lacked political autonomy. The oriental city was not
a “polis” in the sense of Antiquity, and it knew nothing of the
“city law” of the Middle Ages, for it was not a “commune” with
political privileges of its own. Nor was there a citizenry in the
sense of a self-equipped military estate such as existed in occi¬
dental Antiquity. No military oath-bound communities like the

» « THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Compagna Communis of Genoa or other coniurationes ever
sprang up to fight or ally themselves with feudal lords of the
city in order to attain autonomy. No forces emerged like the
consuls, councils, or political associations of merchant and craft
gmlds such as the Mercanza which were based upon the military
independence of the city district.*^ Revolts of the urban populace
which forced the ofiBcials to flee into the citadel have always been
the order of the day. But they always aimed at removing a con¬
crete oflScial or a concrete decree, especially a new tax, never at
gaining a charter which might, at least in a relative way, guaran¬
tee the freedom of the city. This was hardly possible along occi¬
dental lines because the fetters of the sib were never shattered.
The new citizen, above all the newly rich one, retained his rela¬
tions to the native place of his sib, its ancestral land and temple.
Hence all ritually and personally important relations with the
native village were maintained. This was rather comparable to
the way in which a member of the Russian peasantry retained his
buthright within his mtr, with all ensuing rights and obhgations,
even though he had his permanent occupation in the city as
factory worker, journey man, merchant, manufacturer or writer.

In the Occident the Zeus Erkeios of the Attic citizen, and since
Cleisthenes his demos, or the Hantgemal of the Saxon, were
residues of similar conditions.*® But the city was a “community”—
in Antiquity a religious association, in the Middle Ages a con-
iuratio (oath-bound fraternity). Of this China knows only pre¬
liminary stages, not realization. The Chinese city god was only
a local tutelary deity, not the god of an association, and as a rule
he was a canonized urban mandarin.**

In China, this was due to the absence of the oath-bound politi¬
cal association formed by an armed citizenry. Craft and merchant
guilds, city leagues, and even in some instances a “city guild,”
externally similar to the English gilda mercatoria, have existed
in China until now. Indeed, the imperial ofiBcials had to reckon
with the various urban associations and actually these associations
extensively controlled the economic life of the city. In fact they
did so with greater intensity than the imperial administratio^

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD

)> 15 c

and in many ways this control was firmer than that of the average
occidental association. In some respects the condition of Chinese
cities is suggestive of English cities at the time of the firma burgi
or of the Tudors. Yet the obvious and significant difference is that
the English city, even at that time had the “charter” which guaran¬
teed its “hberties.” In China nothing of the kind could be found.^^
In sharp contrast with the Occident, but in harmony with Indian
conditions, the city as an imperial fortress actually had fewer
formal guarantees of self-government®® than the village. Legally
the city consisted of “village districts” under particular tipao
(elders). Often it belonged to several lower (hsien)y in some
cases even to several superior (fu) districts under separate gov¬
ernmental departments®®—quite an advantage to thieves. Unlike
the village, the city could not legally make contracts, either eco¬
nomic or pohtical ones. It could not file law suits and in general
it could not function as a corporate body. The actual occasional
rule of a powerful merchant guild over a city, to be found in
India and in other parts of the world, was no substitute.

This can be explained in terms of the different origins of the
occidental and oriental city. The polis of Antiquity originated as
an overseas trading city, however strong its base in landlordism,
but China was predominantly an inland area. Nautically con¬
sidered, the range of operations of Chinese junks was occasionally
quite extensive and nautical technology (eclimeter and com¬
pass^®) was highly developed. Nevertheless, oversea trade in
relation to the land mass of the interior was of minor significance.
Moreover, for centuries China had renounced seapower, the indis¬
pensable basis of export trade. Finally, for the sake of preserving
tradition, China, as is well known, had confined foreign contact
to a single port, namely Canton, and to a small number of licensed
firms, specifically thirteen. The result was not accidental. Even
the imperial canal, as every map and every preserved report
shows, was actually built for the sole purpose of avoiding the
transport of rice from South to North by sea because of the
hazards of piracy and especially because of typhoons. Even recent
oflBcial reports state that the losses of the treasury through sea

» 16 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

transport warrant the tremendous costs for reconstructing the
canal.

On the other hand, the characteristic inland city of the occi¬
dental Middle Ages, like the Chinese and the Middle Eastern
city, was usually founded by princes and feudal lords in order
to gain money rents and taxes. Yet at an early date the European
city turned into a highly privileged association with fixed rights.
These could be and were extended in a planned manner because
at the time the lord of the city lacked the technical means to
administer the city. Moreover, the city represented a military
association which could successfully close the city gates to an
army of knights. In contrast, the great Middle Eastern cities, such
as Babylon, at an early time were completely at the mercy of the
royal bureaucracy because of canal construction and administra¬
tion. The same held for the Chinese city despite the paucity of
Chinese central administration. The prosperity of the Chinese
city did not primarily depend upon the citizens" enterprising spirit
in economic and politick ventures but rather upon the imperial
administration, especially the administration of the rivers. (Just
as in Egypt the sign of “government” is the Pharaoh holding the
lash in his hand, so the Chinese character identifies “governing”
(chih) with the handling of a stick. In the old terminology this
is identified with the “regulation of waters.” The concept of “law”
(fa) however, means “the release of water.”

Our occidental bureaucracy is of recent origin and in part has
been learned from the experiences of the autonomous city states.
The imperial bureaucracy of China is very ancient. The Chinese
city was predominantly a product of rational administration, as
its very form indicated. First, there was the stockade or wall.
Then the population, which was often insuflBciently centered, was
brought together within the walled area, possibly by coercion.**^
As in Egypt, a change of dynasty also meant a change of the
capital or at least its name. The residence of Peking eventually
became permanent but until recent times it was only in a limited
way a place of trade and industrial exports.

The paucity of imperial administration actually meant that the

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD » 17 «

Chinese in town and country “governed themselves.” Like the sibs
in rural areas, the occupational associations in the city held sov¬
ereign sway over the way of life of their members. This they did
at the side of the sibs as well as over those who did not belong
to any sib, or at least not to any old and strong one. With the
exception of the Indian castes and their diflFerent forms, nowhere
was the individual so unconditionally dependent upon craft and
merchant guild (which were not differentiated terminologically)
as in China.^® Although in a few instances there were monopolistic
guilds and though these were not ofiBcially recognized, the guilds
had often in reality appropriated absolute jurisdiction over their
members. Formally this seemed to be especially true of the Hwei-
kwan guilds of officials and merchants who derived from other
provinces. These guilds may be compared to the German Hansa.
They had definitely emerged by the 14th, but perhaps even by
the eighth century, in order to protect these groups against the
hostili^ of the local merchants. That, anyway, is occasionally
stated in the preambles to the statutes. Membership was required
and whoever wished to engage in business had to join at the risk
of his life. The guilds owned club houses and levied taxes pro¬
portionate to the official s salary or the merchant s turnover. They
punished any member who appealed in court against another
member. They provided tombs in a special cemetery as a substi¬
tute for native soil. They bore the trial costs of their members
suing outsiders and, were there conflict with local authorities,
they managed the appeals to central authorities. Of course, they
provided the requisite douceurs. In 1809, they protested the local
prohibition of rice exports. Besides non-native officials and mer¬
chants there were also non-native artisans enrolled in the guilds—
needle makers from Kiangsu and Taichow living in Wenchow.
The goldbeater’s guild of Wenchow consisted exclusively of peo¬
ple from Ningpo. These organizations are residues of tribal craft
organizations and the ethnic specialization of crafts. This is evi¬
denced by the goldbeater’s guild which denied membership and
the imparting of its art to a native. In all these cases the absolute
authority of the guild was a natural response to the always pre-

> 18 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

carious situation of the guild members in an ethnically strange
environment. It was identical to the strict though far less rigorous
discipline of the Hansa in London and Novgorod. The local craft
and merchant guilds (kung so), however, also held almost abso¬
lute sway over their members through expulsion, boycott, and
lynch justice. In the 19th century a guild member was bitten to
death for infraction of the rule defining the maximum number of
apprentices!

The guild controlled all economic matters relating to its mem¬
bers: weights and measures, or currency made by stamping silver
bars, as practiced, e.g., by the great guild of Newchwang which
also provided for street maintenance. Credit affairs of the mem¬
bers were controlled especially by the hui-kuan guilds (Hansa
leagues) whose monopolistic practices stipulated the terms of
dehvery, storage, payment, insurance and interest rates. Thus,
the opium guild at Wuchow determined when opium could be
brought to market; the bankers' guilds in Ningpo, Shanghai and
elsewhere determined the interest rates; the tea guild in Shanghai
the rates of storage and insurance. The guilds repressed feigned
or otherwise illegal transactions. They provided for the orderly
compensation of creditors in case of business transfer, e.g., the
druggists’ guilds of Wenchow did this. The bankers’ guilds regu¬
lated the monetary exchange rates. The guilds gave advances on
goods in storage, as, for instance, the opium guild did because of
file aforementioned regulation of the selling season.

As regards artisans, it is important to note that the guilds regu¬
lated and restricted the number of apprentices. They even ex¬
cluded family members. Occasionally the guilds secured craft
secrets.^^

A few guilds had at their disposal a fortune amounting to
millions and often this was invested in joint landholdings. They
taxed their members and from new members they raised initiation
fees. They provided for bail and for the burial of impoverished
members. They also financed theaters. Charity organization and
common religious worship, however, were less developed than
might be supposed by European analogy. If initiation fees were

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD * 19 €

occ^ionally paid to a deity (temple treasury) this arrangement
(originally) served as security against seizure by political author¬
ities. Only poor guilds, being unable to afford a club house of their
own, would regularly use a temple as a meeting hall. The theater
featured secular plays, not “mysteria” as in the West. The rehgious
fraternities (hut) developed only slight religious interests.

The majority of the occupational associations were open to all
who engaged in a particular trade and usually membership was
obligatory. There were numerous survivals of ancient sib and
tribal crafts. Actually they represented hereditary monopolies or
even hereditary secret arts.<* But there were also monopolistic
merchant guilds which were established by fiscal interests or by
the anti-foreign policy of the state. We may mention especially
the Co-hong guild in Canton. Until the peace of Nanking its
thirteen firms monopolized all foreign trade. It was one of the few
guilds based on ofiBcial privilege granted by the government.

During the Middle Ages the Chinese administration repeatedly
sought to shift to liturgical ways of providing for public needs.
It seems justifiable to infer that the transition from inter-ethnic
speciahzation of migrating itinerant sib and tribal crafts to resi¬
dent handicraft, with free admission to apprenticeship for some
crafts, has been consummated in stages. Possibly this transition
was enforced from above by means of compulsory trade asso¬
ciations which in turn were regimented for government commis¬
sions. Consequently, a broad section of industry remained essen¬
tially organized as sib and tribal crafts. Under the Han, manifold
industrial pursuits were still strict family secrets. The art of pro¬
ducing Foochow lacquer, for instance, died out during the T’ai
Fing rebellion because the sib who kept the secret had been
eradicated. Cenerally, there was no urban monopolization of in¬
dustry. The local division of labor between town and country
which we refer to as “city economy” had developed as it had else¬
where, and individual policy measures of the city economy can
be found. In the occidental Middle Ages these were the guilds
which, once in power, actually sought to execute the “policy of a
city economy.” In China, despite many beginnings, this sort of

^ 20 m

THE RELIGION OF tHJNA

systematic city policy has iicve^ fully maturtiiL To be sure, Chi¬
nese public authorities have repeate^y reverted to liturgical con¬
trols, b^it they failed to create a system cif ^uild privileges com¬
parable to that of the West duiiog the Middle Ages. Ibe very
absence of these legal giiarantetis led die lareupRitional associa¬
tions of China to the road of relentless and Hicompaiable self
help. Tti China, thiJ5 also accuuntijd for the absentze of fised^
publicly recognised, formal and reliable legal foundations for a
free and cooperatively regulated organizadou of industry and
comBnerw> such as is known in the Occirient These were the legal
foundations beneficid to the development of petty capitalism in
occidenta] medic^'al artisan crafts hut in China they were absent
became the cities and guilds had no poUbco-military power of
tbirir own. This m turn is cxpLoiaed by tlic early development of
bureaucratic organization in the anny (officer corps) and civil
ndmiiiistmliou.

5. Ptinc^hj Adiuinistfalioii ami
the ConwptiOT$ of Deity: A Com-
partson with the East

IN CHINA, as in Eg)T>t, the nend to control die rivers was pre¬
requisite to a ration^ economy This need vvas decisive for the
inctrplion of central authority and its patrimonial official douii
which has existed thronghnnt Chinese history* Distinct proof of
this is the resolution of an alleged cartel of the Icudal princes
which MCDcfiLs mentions and w'hleh is ascribed iu the seventh
century h,c, Irrigntiim was ahtiady developed at the time whim
the art of ^viiting emerged and perhaps the latter was connected
with the udmmistralJ^'c needs of Lhe foimer.'*^ In COntrust to
Egypt and .Mesopotamia* however, at least in Northern Churn,
the nucleus of the empire, priority was given to diko construction
against flooib nr camd tonstruction for inland water transport,
especially transport of forage. Canal constmeuon for irrigaticn
purposes was secondary. In Mcso[Kilnmia the latter was a pro*
requisite to the cultivation of the desert area. Tlio river adminis-

» 2i c

CITY, FRINGE AND GOD

trators aud the "police'* formed the ducIcus of the pre-lJtiinuy mid
purely pabriiuomol bureaueriicy^ The police are metidotied in.
early documents as forming a class below the "productive” estates^
but abo^'e the ^eunuchs*' and “carriers,''

It may bo asked to what extent these conditions wen^ onn-
se^^uentiQl not only as tliey unquestitinably wore for poIitioSp but
also for religion. The god of the Middle East was fashioned on
the model of the king. To the Mesopotaniian and Egyptian siibject
who hardly knew raiUr w^cal and woe^ and alHive alh thp har^^est
depended upon the activities of the king and his administration.
The king directly “created** the harvest llie ense was sonicwhat
similar, though by do means as compelling, in parts of

Southern ChinH wliers the Tegulation of water was of paramouat
significant. Irrigation led to the direct transition from hoe culture
to gardeulng. However, in Nortlicm Chiua^ natural events, espe-
eially rainfall, loomed much larger despite the considerable deveU
opment of irrigation. In the Middle East the old eentrah^.ed
bureaucratic administration undoubtedly promoted the concept
of the supreme deitj' as a King of Heavens w'ho had "created**
man and the world from nothing. Kow, os supramundHiie ethical
ruJer^ be demands each creature to do his dut}'. Only In the Middle
East has this Idea of Cod retained the upper hand witlx sudi Eorcc-
fulness. It must he aElflecl at mice tliat this fuct cannot be deduced
solely from economic conditions. In the Middle East die Heavenly
King also rose to the highest position of power and fin ally—thmigh
only with Deutero Isaiah in exile—to an absolutely siipTamundane
supremacy. In Palestirie, in contrast to the desert regions, rain and
sunshine, the ijuurcc^ of fertility, were sent by tlic grace of this
Cod. Jehovah expressly expostiilaterl with the IsTnielites about
this. Obviously factors other thou economic factors, namely for¬
eign pfilitical ones, played a part in these contracting conceptions
of deity* This requires further elaboration.

The contrast between the Middle and Far Eastern ctinceptiou
of deity W3s by no means always as sharp, ^n the one hand,
Chinese antiquity knew a dual god of the peasantry (She^ki)
for every local association^ it represented a fusion of the Spirit of

» 22 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

fertile soil (She) and the spirit of harvest (Chi). This God had
already assumed the character of a deity meting out ethical sanc¬
tions. On the other hand, the temples of ancestral spirits {Chung-
miao) were objects of worship. These spirits together (She-chi
chung-miao) were the main object of the local rural cults. As the
tutelary spirit of the local community it was probably first con¬
ceived naturalistically as a semi-material magical force or sub¬
stance. Its position roughly corresponded to that of the local deity
in Western Asia but at an early time the latter was essentially
more personalized. With the increase of princely power the spirit
of the ploughland became the spirit of tiie princely territory. As
is usually the case, when a stratum of noble heroes developed in
China, then too a personal God of Heavens originated who
roughly corresponded to the Hellenic Zeus. The founder of the
Chou dynasty worshipped as a dualist unit this God of Heavens
together with the local spirit. Originally imperial power was like a
feudal suzerainty over the princes. Thus, sacrificial rites to Heaven
became the monopoly of the emperor who was considered the
“Son” of Heaven. The princes made sacrifices to the spirits of the
land and to the ancestors; the heads of households made sacrifices
to the ancestral spirits of their kinship group. As usual, the char¬
acter of the spirits was tinged with animist-naturalist notions. This
was especially true of the Spirit of Heaven (Shang Ti) who could
be conceived either as the Heaven itself or as King of Heaven.
Then the Chinese spirits, especially the mighty and universal
ones, increasingly assumed an impersonal clmacter.'*'^ This was
exactly in reverse to the Middle Eastern situation where the per¬
sonal supramundane creator and royal ruler of the world was
raised above the animist semi-personal spirits and the local deity.

For a long time the concept of deity among Chinese philos¬
ophers remained very contradictory. For Wang Ch ung, God was
not conceived anthropomorphically but He nevertheless had a
“body,” apparently a sort of fiuid substance. The same philos¬
opher, on the otjier hand, argued a denial of immortality by
pointing to the complete “formlessness” of God and to this the
human spirit—similar to the Israelite “runch”—returned after life.

» 23 €

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD

A similar conception has been expressed in inscriptions. But the
impersonal nature of the supreme supramundane powers was
more and more emphasized. In Confucian philosophy the idea of a
personal god had been upheld during the eleventh century but
vanished in the twelfth century. This was due to the influence of
the materialist, Chu Fu-tzu, whom Emperor K'ang Hsi, the author
of the “Sacred Edict,” still regarded as an authority. That this
development toward an impersonal conception of deity*® was not
consummated without permanent residues of the personalist con¬
ception will be discussed later. But in the oflBcial cult the imper¬
sonal conception gained the upper hand.

In the Semitic Orient, too, the fertile land, the land with natural
water, was the “land of Baal” and at the same time his residence.
The Baal of the peasant s land, in the sense of harvest-yielding
soil, also became the local deity of the political association of the
homeland. But here this land was considered the “property” of the
god; “heaven” was not conceived in the Chinese manner as im¬
personal and yet animated, that is to say, as a heaven which might
compete with a lord of heaven. The Israelite Yahwe was origi¬
nally a mountain deity of storms and natural catastrophes. In war
he made his approach through clouds and thunderstorms in order
to render aid to the heroes. He was the federal deity of the con¬
quering oath-bound confederacy which had been placed under
his protection by means of a covenant mediated by priests. Hence
foreign aflFairs permanently remained his desmesne and the con¬
cern of the greatest among his prophets, who were political publi¬
cists in times when the mighty Mesopotamian robber states were
tremendously feared. The final shaping of his image was deter¬
mined by this circumstance. Foreign aflFairs set the stage for his
deeds, namely, for the peripeties of war and the destiny of na¬
tions. Therefore, he was and remained first of all a God of the
extraordinary, that is, of the destiny of his people in war. But his
people could not create a world empire of their own and re¬
mained a small state in the midst of world powers to which they
finally succumbed. Thus Jehovah could only become a “world
God” as a supramundane ruler of destiny. Even his own chosen

24 ^

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

people were accorded mere creatural significance; once blessed
they might also be rejected depending on their merit.

In contrast, the Chinese Empire, in historical times, became an
increasingly pacified world empire despite its war campaigns. To
be sure, Chinese culture originated under the banner of pure mili¬
tarism. Originally the shih is the “hero,” later the ofBcial. The
“hall of studies” (Pi-yung kung) where, according to ritual, the
emperor in person interpreted the classics seems orginally to have
been a “bachelor house” (avBpelov) such as prevailed among almost
all warrior and hunting peoples. There the fraternity of young
warriors were garrisoned by age group away from family life.
After having proven themselves they were armed and initiated
through the “capping” ceremony which is still preserved. The
extent to which the typical system of age groups was elaborated
remains open to question. Etymology seems to suggest that
women originally managed tillage alone, but never participated
in non-domestic rites. Obviously the bachelor house was that of
the (charismatic) warrior chieftain where diplomatic transactions
(such as the surrender of enemies) were consummated, where
weapons were stored, and trophies (cut-oflF ears) were deposited.
Here the league of yoimg warriors practiced rhythmic, that is
disciplined archery, which allowed the prince to choose his fol¬
lowers and oflBcials by their merits (hence the ceremonial signifi¬
cance of archery until recent times). It is possible that ancestral
spirits also gave advice there. If all this is true, the reports con¬
cerning original matrilineal descent accords with it. “Matriarchy,”
as far as can be ascertained, seems primarily and regularly to have
resulted from the father s military estrangement from fainily life.'*®
All this was very remote in historical time.

Use of the horse in individual hero combat—in China as well as
the world over—led to the disintegration of the bachelor house of
foot soldiers. The horse was first used as a draft animal for the
war chariot and was instrumental in the ascendancy of hero com¬
bat. The highly trained individual hero, equipped with costly
arms, stepped forward. This “Homeric” age of China was also
very remote in historical time. In China, as in Egypt and Meso-

> 25 €

CITY, PRINCE AND GOD

potamia, the technique of knightly combat apparently never led
to an individualist social order as strong as that of Homeric Hellas
or the occidental Middle Ages.

We assume that the main counter-weight was the dependence
on river regulation and therewith an autonomous biureaucratic
management by the prince. As in India, the individual districts
were obliged to furnish war chariots and armored men. Hence
there was no personal contract like that of the occidental feudal
association. The army of knights rested on the obligation of the
districts to furnish warriors according to census registration. The
“noble man,” chiin tzu (gentleman) of Confucius was originally
the knight trained in arms. But the static pressures of economic
life never allowed the war gods to ascend to Olympian heights.
The Chinese emperor executed the rite of ploughing; having
become the patron saint of the ploughman, he was no longer a
knightly prince. The purely chthonian mythologies®® were never
of paramount significance. With the rule of the literati the increas-
ingly pacifist turn of ideologies was natural and vice versa.

Since the abolition of feudalism the Spirit of Heaven, like the
Egyptian deities, has been conceived as a sort of ideal court of
appeal against the oflSce holders of this earth, from the emperor
right down to the lowest official. In China, this bureaucratic con¬
cept produced a special fear of the curse of the oppressed and the
poor. This also happened in Egypt and—less exphcitly—in Meso¬
potamia. (For the impact of this fear on tlieir Israelite neighbors
see “Das antike Judentum^ Tubingen, 1921.) It is characteristic
of the bureaucratic and at the same time pacifist mentality of the
Chinese that this idea—a quasi-superstitious Magna Charta—was
the only available and gravely feared weapon the subjects could
use against the privileged, the officials, and the rich.

In China, the period of genuine people’s wars in any case be¬
longs to remote times. To be sure, the bureaucratic state signified
no break with the warlike epoch of China. It led its armies to
Indo-China and central Turkistan. The early literary-documentary
sources give special praise to the warrior hero. However, in his¬
torical times, according to the official view, only once was a vie-

> 26 €

THE EELICION Or Ctlt^A

torioLEi general proeblined ctriperor by ilm army (Wanj^ Mang
ah{}ut tlia Ernie cjf iJie birth fiF Christ), AchiaHy of course^ tJiis has
happened more often; but ft occurred through the ritually re-
qulred foitn^T or by rituaUy recognized conqiiest, or as rebeUiou
against a ritually incorrceL eiiqieror. In the peiicKl between the
eiglith and the third centuries which was dedstve for the
formaHon of intellectunl culture, the empire was a verj^ loose asso¬
ciation of domwiionsH The latter foimally rceogiikcd the suzerain^
of the politically hnpotent emperor but were pcnnaucutly em¬
battled m struggle for the poslLiou of nuijor damo^

Tlitf fact tliat lliB imperial lord paramount wns simultaneously
nnd primarily high priest demarcated the Chinese from the occi¬
dental Holy lioman Empirei This importaut state of a^Ealrs may
be traced to pic-hLstoriu times aiid was cfimpirable to the posi¬
tion wiiicb the ocddental pope had claimed In the manner of
Boniface VI11/^ Its indispcusahle function determiueil its pres¬
ervation. In the role of high priest the emperor was an cssemtia!
clement of cultural eohesicn among tlie individual states which
always varied in size and power. An at least fomial homogeneity
of ritual cemented this cohesion. In China, as in the cjccidenfal
^fiddle Ages, religious unity detcrmlijed the ritually free inter¬
state mobility of the noble families. The noble statesman was
ritually free to transfer his services from one prince to anutiier^
The umBcation of the empire, which proceeded with only minor
mtemiptiotis from the third century &.C;. unw^ard represented the
idiernal pacification oi the empire, at least m principle. .^0 longer
was therB legitimalE upportunity for internal warfare. The defense
against and the suhjectinn of the b^irbarians became simply a
governmental police duty* Thus, in Chma^ the God of Heaven
could not assume the form of a heTU-OLHl who revealed himself in
the irrabonal destiny of his people through its foreign relaliocis^
or who was wrt>rshipped in War, victory, defeat, exile and nostalgia.
Disregarding the Mongol invasion, such uratiomd fate was no
longer of paramount importance in China after the constructioji
of the Great Wall. When quiet religious speculation was being
developed such events were tOij remote to be seized upon. They

CITV, PIllNCK ANU COU

. 27 4

wi»rR nnt constantly visiiali'/iid s.s ordained menaces^ or as ordeals
which hnd been mastered^ or as problems governing man's very
existence. Above all, such matters of fate were not the business of
iha common ptfoplc. Successful usurpation of the tlnuiic or suc¬
cessful invasion simply meant a different tax receiver, not an
altered social order. (Thus, Otto Franoko much emphasizes the
fact that the Mauebu rule was not experienced os “foreign dom-
inati(:]n.rBut this does not bold for periods oE revolutionary agita¬
tion* as highlighted by the manifestoes of the T'ai P ing.)

Thus* the UDshahen order of internal political and social life,
with thousands of years behind it, was placed under divine tute-
tage and tlion eorisidercd as the revelation of the divine. The
IsTraelite Gnd also traik note of intomal social relationships;; for ho
used misfortune in war as the ocKision to punish his people for
having broken the old order of the confederac)* which he had
instihitcd. These offenses were* however* only One among many
sins, the most important of which was idolatry. Fur thii iitravenly
powers of Chfna^ however, the ancient social order the one
and only one. Heaven reigned as guardian of its permanence and
undisturbed sanctityj and as the seat of tianquility guaranteed by
the rule of reasonable norms—not as the fountainhead of irrational
feared, or hoped for pedpetie!^ of fate, Sueh peripeties Implied
unreist snd disordoTj and were siscuLfically regarded as demouic in
origin. Tranquilitj' and mtemal order could berst be gnamnleed by
a power which, impersonal in nature, was specificnlly above
mundanu affairs. Sudi a power had to Steer clear of passion, above
all, “wrath'’—the most important attribute of Yah^vo.

These political foundations of Chinese life also favored the
triiiuiiph of those dements of onimist belief which inhered in aU
magic evoKing toward the cult. Ln the West this dcvdopmcnt had
been broken by the ascent of hero-gods end cvciituHlly by the
faith of plebeian strata in a personal and criiical God of world
redemption. In China* the genuine chthouian ailts along with
their typical orgies were aUo eliminated, by the aristocracy of
knights and later by the htemti.^*

Dances ore not to be found—the old war donta: had lanished—

p 2S € THE nELIGION OF CHINA

nor are sf^xuai, intisical, or otber forms of toxic orgies found. There
are scarcely even survivals of such- Only a single act of ritual
seems to have assumed a "^saeramentar eharaoterp and it was
non^rgiastic. The God of Heaven was also tnmphaDt here.
Following Ssu-toa Ch'fen's biography of Confudns, the philos¬
ophers argued that the gods of tlm mountains and rivuloLs rule
the world because rain comes from the mountains. But the God
of Heaven was victorious as the Cod of heavenly order, not
htiiivoiily hosts- It was a turn of religion which was specifically
Chinese^ for other reasons and in a different form^ it had also
Temaiiiud dominant in India- Hei^ the timeless and inevocablo
attained religious supremacy. Tiiis was brntiglit abfiiit by join¬
ing on inviolate and unifarm magical ritual to the calendar. Ihe
ritual compeUed the spirits; the calendar was iuilis|>f^usahle for
a people of peasants. Thus^ the laws of napire and of rites were
fused into the unity of Tao.^ Not a supramsindane lord creator,
hut a snpi'a-divinCj unpcrsoLuih forever indentical and eternal
existence was felt to be the ultimate and supreme. This was to
smictitiu the validity of eternal order and its timclc^ exiitEjnee,
The ImpcrstJfisil power of Heaven did not “speal;" to mam It
revealed itself In the regimen on earthp in the firm ordiir of nature
and tradition which were part of the cosmic order, andj as else¬
where, it rf^veuled itself in what occurred to man- The welfare of
the Subjects documeoted heavenly contentmeut and the correct
functioning of the order. All bad events were symptomaUe of
disturbance in the providential harmony of heavcu and eartii
throiigb magical forces- This optmUstic couception of cosmic
harmony is luiidaincntal for Cluiia and has gradually evolved
from the primitive belief in spirits- Here as elsewhere, thera waji
ciriginaUy a dualism^ of good (useful) and e^-il (harmful)
spirits, of the "‘sJtcn* and the,- wliich animat^ the whole

universe and expressed them-selves in natural events as well as in
man's conduct and condlHori. MaJ3*s “'soul,” too, was believed
to be composed of the heaven-derived xftan and the earthly Ittfci
suhsLanee which separated again after death. Thix corresponds
to the widely dillused ossumptiDn of a pliiraUty of anunatifjg

CITY, FfllNCE AKD COD

» 2a c

forces. Tlie docLHae held iu eommOD by sill schiiols isf philf}isophy
summarized the "good" spirits as the (heavenly and masculine)
Yang principle, the ^'evdl" ones as the (cartlily and feminine) Yin
principle, explaining the origin of the world from their fusion*
Both principles were, like heaven and earihp ejrtcrmL Here, as
oJinost cveiy where else, I his consistczit dualism was optimistically
attenuated and supported by identifying the redeeming magical
charisma of sorcerers and heroes with the slien spirits who origh
nated m the benign heavenly power, the Yflfig- The charls-
matically qualified man obviously had power over die ei,il demons
(the tucj), and the heavenly power was also certainly the good
ami Supreme leader of the sneial L-euiniox. Tlie spirits and
their functions had to be supported in man and in the
To this eud lire demouie ^uei spirits had to be kept at rest so
that the heavenly protected order would function correctly* For,
the demons could do no harm unless sulfercd by Heaven ta dti iL
The gods and spirits were powerbd beings. Ko single Cod,
no apotheosized hero or spirit, however powerful, was "onmis-
dent” or ^omn]potent." The Conhiciaii's sober wisdom of Life con*
ceming the mlsrortuncs of the pious was simply that ^God s will
is iiften unsteady.'' AH superhuman brnngs were stronger than
man but were far below the impersonal supreme power of Heaven,
and alsij heluw tlac imperial poutifex whu was in Htiaven^s good
graces. Accordingly, only these and similar impersonal powers
could be considered as objects of worship by tbe supra-mdi\^il-
11 al community and such powers were ctmceived as determining
its destiuy.*^ But the spiilts, who could be magically iafiucuccd,
might also determine the uidividual's fate-
With these spirits one was on a footing of primitive mutuality:
so and so niauy ritual acts brought so aud so many licneBts^ If a
tutulaiy spirit proved Insufliciently strong to protect a rtian^ in
spite of all sacrifices and virtueSp he had to be substituted, for
only the spirit who proved to be truly |X}werful was worthy of
worship. Actually such shifts occinred frequently* Moreover, the
emjperor granted recognition to proven deities as objects of wor¬
ship; he bestowed title and rank^" iqion them and occasionally

* tiso * TUB rtEi.JCio>r of chi^a

dcmiotetl thfnn Rg^iin. Only jirtiven dijirisiTiia legitimatized a spirit.
To be sure, the emperor was responsible for misfortunep but mis¬
fortune also disgraced the God who, duougli omdes drawn by
lut nr uther imperative.'i^ was responsible for the failure of a ven-
tiire. As late as 1455 an emperor publicly giive verbal ksbing to
tho spirit of the Tasi mountain. In SLniikr eases W{}rsbip and k;ic-
rifiee won; withlield from tlie .'ffpirits. Among the great emperors
die "radunalist" iinifieir of the empire^ Shlh lluang Ti^ according
to Ssu-ma Cli*ien*S biography^ had a niountain debire-sted in order
to punish a leuiLciit spirit for uhshnicting access to the mOuUtaitU

4, The Charismatip mul Poii/i;^c£i^

Faction of the Central Monarch

IN KKEPING with the principle of charkuiatio aiithmity^ the
emperor, of course, fared sLmilariy. Thi^ whole constructioji, ufter
all, issued from this political habituation. The emperor had to
provB hi^ chadHTTiatic authority^ whid:i had been tempered by
hereditary successorsbip+ Cboiisnia was always an extraordinary
fortx; Ofetida) and was revealed in sorcery and htruism.

The charismatic quidihcatic^n of the novice was tested by trials in
magical nscpetidsm, nr, given different idens, it wax acquired in the
form of 8 soul." But originally the {diarismetic quality could
be lost; the hero or magician could he "forsnken" by Jiis spirit or
God. CLarisma seemed tn be guaranteed Only so lung as it was
confirmed by recurrent miracles and heroic feats. In any case, the
magician or hero must not expose himself and his following to
obvious failure. Originally, heroic strength was considered quite
as much a magical quality as “mngicfli force*’ in the narrower
sense, for instance ralnmating, magicai healing or e.\traordinaiy
Crartsmonship.^^ For cultural evolution the decisive question was
whcdier or not the military cliarisma of the warlord and the paci¬
fist charisma of the (usually meteorological) stircfrer W'ere united
in the some hand. If they lay in the hand nf the war loid-tliu case
of Gacsoro-papisui—the question was: What charismatic source
server! as the basis for the evniiition of princely power?

^ 31 c

CITY, prince; and cod

In Chlna^ as discussed above?, sume frimlairiRntal prehistoric
events, theuisclvcs probably co-determfned by the great sfgniB-
csLntiv of liver regulationcaused imperial authority to emerge
from magical charisma, Secular mid spintnu] autbf>rity wt^re com¬
bined in one bmid, tlie spiiihiat lytrougly predominating. To be
Ffciro, the emperor had to prove his magical chodsma through
military success or at least he had to avoid striking failures. Abuve
all, he had to secure good weutber for harvest and guarantee the
peaceful internal order of the realm. However the persoaoJ quall^
ties which were necessary to the charismatic image of the em¬
peror were turned into rltualfsizi mid then into etLics^ by the rit¬
ualists and philosqphiirij.

The emperor had to conduct himself according to the ethicid
imperatives of the old classical scriptures. Thus, the Chinese mon¬
arch remained primarily a poiitifca; he was tlie old ia.ininaker of
magical religion'’^ translated into ethics. Sincse the ethfcolly ration¬
alize ‘'Ueaven** guarded eternal order, the charisma of the men-
Ojch depended on his vlrtues.^^ Like all gcouiaciy charismatic
rulers he was a mnnarch by divine right, and not in the comfort¬
able manaer of modem sovereigns who, by the grace of Godp
claim to be responsible to Ilfm only for their blunders. The latter
ore de facto irresponsible, but the Chinese emperor nded in the
old gtmiiine sense nf charismatic authority. He had to prove him¬
self as the “^on of Heaven'* and as the lord approved by lieaveu
insofar as the people fared well under him. If he failed, he sunply
lacked ehiirLEiiiia. ThuSt d the riverii broke the dikes^ or if rain did
not fall despite the sacrifices made, it was e^idence-^such was
expressly taught-that the emperor did not have the charisma tic;
qualities demanded hy HcAVcn. In such eases the emperor did
public penitence for his sins, as happened even in recent times.
The Annak record similar public confession of sins ev en by the
princes of feudal times'*^ and the custom contfnucd to exist. As
late as 1832 rain sncin followed the public cnnfcsjion of the em*
pemn^ If this was of no avail the emperor had to e.xpect abdica¬
tion; in the pastr it probably meant self-sacrilee. Like oilier offi¬
cials he was open to official repiimand hy the censors*®^ Moreover,

* 32 m

THE RELtGION OF OHlNA

were a to offend the ancient and established social order

theoretically his diarisma would fbrs^e hhn, for the social order
was part of the cosmos and its impersona] norm and harmony jui-
pass^ all deities. Were the mesnarch, for instancOp to change the
absolutely divine natural law of ancestral piety it would be judged
that charisma bad abandoned Iiim^ that he had fallen prey to
demonic foroea. And tht^cuy, after all, was not quite irrelevant.
Hawng faeeome a private person the monarch could be killed,^®
though naturally not everyone was authoriv^d to do tHs. Bather
It hy within the ]nristljcb\m of the great officials, in much the
same way as Calvin ascribed the right of resistance to the estates,®®

Offidaldom^ the pillar of public order and the state, was held
to partake of charisma too.®^ Like the monarcli it was also con¬
sidered a sanctified instltutLon altliongh until now the individual
official could be ad nutrm timovibel^ The olliciara qualification
was also chBTismatically detenninecL All iiuri^ and disorder in his
hailiwiefc—whether socml or cosmic-meteorolo^cal in nature—
deuionsLriited that the official was not in tlie grace of the spirits^
Without questioJUing the reasons, the official "had to retire from
office.

This position of officialdom had evolved since prehistoric thue-s.
The old semiJegeudaiy sacred order of the Chun dynasty, as
transmitted in the Choir Li, had already arrived at the point oi
primitive patriar ch i alis iiip initiating its transition to feudalism.

CHAPTER IX

THE FEUDAL AND PHEBEN^
D.4L STATE

I J. The Hereditary Charismatic
N^ure of Feudalism

N CHiNA^ 3^ far m tme can pidge^ pobtigal ftfud-ilbm was mot
primarily oonneeted with landlordism in the occidental sense.
Bolii emerged frcim the ^'stRle organization of the gettiesf* as in
India^ when the chieftains' sibs escaped the ancient fetters of the
bachelor bouse and its derivatives. The sib» which according to a
documentary note originally furnished the war chariot?^ was basic
to the andent status structure. The actual political eoDstitution
was clearly delineated at the threshold of recorded history. It
directly continued the primeval administrative structure common
to all conquering empires including even the great nineteemth
century Negro empires.

Ontlymg areas mlcd by tributoiy princes were increasingly
affiliated with the "middle realmi*e., the "inner'' territory sur*
rounding the royal residence. This territory^ as if under domestic
authority^ was directly adminiirtered by tlie victorious ruler and
his officials, personal dients, and lower nobles. The emperor of
the "middle rejilTn'*^ interfered with tlic administiaLioii cif tribu-
tory princes only if this were practicable and necessary for main^
taiuing his power and, related thereto* safeguarding his interest
in tributes- His interventiou naturally became more S[>oradic and
less Intense the further removed the tributory prince was from
the area of domestic oontiol.

» 34 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Some of the political problems were: Were the rulers of out¬
lying areas removable in practice or were they hereditaiy dynas¬
tic rulers? Could the subjects make practical use of their right of
appeal to the emperor, a right acknowledged in the theory of the
Chou Li, and if so, how often? Did such appeals lead to interfer¬
ences by the imperial administration? Were the co-ordinate or
subordinate officials of the princes, as theory had it, actually de¬
pendent upon the emperor s officials and appointed and removed
by them? Hence, could the central administration of the three
great and the three little councils (kung and ku) actually extend
beyond the domestic authority? And were the armed forces of the
outlying states actually at the disposition of the lord-paramount?
Such problems were always solved by unstable provisions, result¬
ing in political feudalization.

In China this took the same course that we shall find most
consistently in India. There, only the sibs of already ruling politi¬
cal overlords and their followings claimed and were considered
for subordinate positions—from the tributory prince down to the
court or provincial official. In this the emperor s sib had prece¬
dence, but also the sibs of princes who had submitted in good
time were left in partial or full possession of their power. There
was often a reluctance to deprive chieftains’ families of all their
lands because of the powerful ancestral spirits of charismatic
sibs.i The feudal and prebendal opportunities were determined
by sib charisma and this in turn partially explains the strong posi¬
tion of the ancestral spirits. Finally there were the sibs of all 4ose
who had distingmshed themselves as heroes and trustees. In any
case, for a long time charisma was no longer attached strictly to
the individual but to his sib, a typical phenomenon as we shall
find in our discussion of India. Status was not created by the
feudal fief nor by receiving fief as a vassal through free"rom-
mendation and investiture. Rather, at least in principle, the re¬
verse obtained. One qualified for an office fief of a certain rank
as a member of a noble family with a customary rank.

During the Chinese Middle Ages we find posts of ministers and
even of some ambassadors firmly vested in the hands of certain

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 35 «

families. Confucius, too, was a genteel man because he stemmed
from a ruling family. These “great families,” as they appear in
later inscriptions, were the charismatic sibs whose position was
financed largely through political incomes and herechtary landed
wealth. Of course, the contrast to the Occident, while in some
respects only relative, was of no small significance. In the Occi¬
dent the hereditary nature of the fiefs was a mere consequence of
historical development. The fief-holders were differentiated by
status into those who had and had not received judicial preroga¬
tives; the beneficia were differentiated by type of service; and
finally, the knights were segregated from the other estates, even
from the urban patriciate. All this was consummated in a society
firmly structured through appropriation of land and the fixed
distribution of all sorts of profit opportunities.

Often the hereditary charismatic position of the early Medieval
German “dynasties”—at the time quite hypothetical dynasties—
seems to approximate Chinese conditions. In the essential areas
of Western feudalism, however, reversal of traditional rank orders,
conquest, and migration greatly loosened the firm sib structure.
Besides, defense needs required the enrollment of every able man
trained as a knight so that any man living as a knight was perforce
admitted to knightly status. Hereditary charisma and the eventual
proof of nobility were later developments.

In China, during historical times the hereditary charisma of
the sib was, at least theoretically, always primary, though there
were always successful parvenus. A dictum in the Shu Ching
reads: “A family is esteemed for its age, an object for its new¬
ness.” The hereditary nature of the fief itself was not decisive, as
in the Occident it came to be, but was rather considered a gross
abuse. However, it was decisive that the claim to a certain fief was
based on the hereditary rank of the sib. It may well be legendary
that the Chou dynasty established the five degrees of nobility and
then introduced the principled distribution of fiefs according to
noble rank. But it is quite credible that the high vassals of the
time (chu hou, the princes) were exclusively selected from the
descendants of the ancient rulers.^

» 36 « the religion of china

This corresponds to early Japanese conditions and was typical
of the “state of the gentes ” According to the Anna!.;, after the
downfall of the Han dynasty, the Wei moved their capital to
Loyang and had the aristocracy follow suit. The aristocracy
consisted of their own and other old hereditary, charismatic sibs
who originally, of course, were families of tribal chieftains. Even
at that time they were descendants of feudal and prebendal office¬
holders; and they distributed rank (and therewith the >^1aim to
prebends) according to ancestral office, a principle identical with
that of the Roman nobility and the Russian mjestnieshestvo.^
Similarly, during the Period of the Warring States, the highest
offices were firmly vested in the hands of certain sibs of high,
hereditary charismatic rank.^ A true court nobility emerged only
during the time of Shih Huang Ti (beginning 221 b.c.) and was
concomitant with the downfall of Feudalism. The award of rank
is first mentioned in the Annals at that time.® Also financial needs
for the first time compelled the sale of offices, and hence the selec¬
tion of officials according to monied wealth. Hereditary charisma
disintegrated despite the maintenance of rank differences in prin¬
ciple. As late as 1399, even the degradation to a plebeian level
(min) is mentioned,® however under very different conditions and
a totally different sense. It then meant that the graduate literati,
exempt from corvee or being caned, could be degraded to servi¬
tude. During feudal times, an order of fiefs corresponded to rank
gradation by hereditary charisma. After the abolition of subin¬
feudation, an order of prebends corresponded to the shift toward
bureaucratic administration. The prebends were soon firmly clas¬
sified under the Ch’in; the Han foUowed their example by classify¬
ing them into 16 classes of money and rice rents.^ This meant the
complete abolition of feudalism.

The transition was represented by the division of offices® into
two different ranks, namely, hum nei hou, i.e., land prebends
and lieh hou, i.e., rent prebends, which depended upon the taxes
of certain localities. The old, purely feudal fiefs were succeeded
by land prebends. In practice these entailed broad prerogatives
over the peasants. They continued to exist until the army of

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 37 «

knights was replaced by the princely and later the imperial stand¬
ing army of disciplined and drafted peasants. Hence, despite
internal diflFerences, there was a broad, external similarity be¬
tween ancient Chinese and occidental feudalism.

In China, as elsewhere, men who did not bear arms because of
economic or educational disqualification were thereby deprived
of political rights. It is certain that this held even in pre-feudal
times. The prince of the period of the Chou allegedly consulted
the people, i.e., the armed sibs, before giving a verdict of capital
punishment and before going to war, and the latter was compati¬
ble with the prevailing draft system. Presumably, with the advent
of the war chariot the old army system was shattered and only
then did hereditary, charismatic “feudahsm” emerge and spread
to political oflBces.

The aforementioned Chou Li,'> the oldest preserved document
concerning administrative organization, portrays a very schematic
state organization^® imder the rational leadership of ofBcials. It
was based upon bureaucratically controlled irrigation, special
crop cultivation (silk), draft registers for the army, statistics, and
magazines. Its actual existence, however, seems problematical
since, according to the Annals, this administrative rationalization
was produced only through the competition of the feudal Warring
States.^^ Yet it is possible that a patriarchal epoch like that of the
Old Kingdom of Egypt preceded the feudal period,^® fQj. Jq
cases the irrigation and construction bureaucracy was undoubt¬
edly ancient and grew out of the royal clientele. From the begin¬
ning its existence tempered the feudal character of the Epoch of
the Warring States and repeatedly steered the thinking of the
literati to the tracks of administrative technology and bureau¬
cratic utilitarianism. In any case, political feudahsm held sway
for more than half a millennium.

The ninth to the third century b.c. represented a period of
well-nigh independent feudal states. The Armais portray rather
clearly the conditions of this feudal age, briefly touched upon
above.i® The emperor was lord-paramount, before whom the vas¬
sals descended from their chariots. In the final analysis pohtical

* 3S c

TttE HEI.IGION OF CHINA

property “rights" could be deduced solely from iafeudation by the
emperor who received gifts from tlie prirjcely vassiik. These vnl-
untiiry Ejifts mcreasirigly weakened the emperor and brought him
into an awkward dependency* He awarded degrees of prhieely
rauk^ the su;b-%'‘assiLls liad no direct contact with bim^ This prin¬
ciple was of great political signiJBcance for the fu jung (sub vas¬
sals} and is best expl^ied by tJie fact tJiat many originally inde¬
pendent political ^'^sals later emerged as tributory princes.
Except for obligatory militaiy eontributions, the giftji of die va.'t-
sals, even those to the enipcror^ were ormsidcTied voluntary and the
emperor was obliged to compensate them In tnm.^*

That £eis origiDatcd through the award of a cosUc for guardian¬
ship lias often bEcii repjrted of the feudal state of Ch^in. In theory^
the fiefs were to be renewed by the heir, and the emperor was
entitled to freely determine the qualified heir. According to the
Aiinabi, were the father's and the emperor's designation of tlie
heir to conflict the emperor gave way. The knightly fiefs may
well have varied in siko. According to 0 note in the Atmadv,'^ a
fief was to comprise 10 to SO,OCX) fnott (1 jjuju at S^6 Ar hence
526 to 2,630 tm) with 160 to 500 people. In other places the pro¬
vision of one war chariot per thousand persims^^ is oonstdered
Dormal. .Another count (504 u.c.) ctmsiders four settlements of
undefined as equivalent to 144 warriors. Later counts, again,
stipulate certain deliveries of war chariots, armored men, horees,
mid pmvisiona {cattle)^ usually in return for veiy large units of
lond.^* The whole manner in which taxes, forced labnr^ and re¬
cruits were subsequeuLty aiJucatcd obviously continued these feu-
dEil traditions. In the older period they Ellso proceeded to levy
chariots and knights, later to raise reemits for the army^ laborers
for corv^cs, taxes in kind, and finally money taxes, as wo shall
show below.

Inhere were joint £efs^ and honco Joint heirs under a leading
elder. By ritual the younger sons ranked lower than the oldest.
No longer were they considered "vassals" but officials (office
nobles), and they made sacrific'es at ride altars instead of the great

THE FEUDAL AND FREBENPAL ^TATE » 39 €

&j 2 cestrdl fjiiTkily a!t 3 rp^“ In the imperia! bouse priinogeniture and
dtMignahon of a successor from among sons and rctaLivtiS by tbe
ruler or by tiitr bighe^jt officials also obtained. Occasionally, by¬
passing the oldest son or the son ot the chief wife in favor of a
younger son or the son of a eoncnbine caused the ip'assals to rebel
against the emperor Later, up to the last ph^SO of tile monarchy
and for ritual reasons competed with ancestral sacrificep the rule
was that a successor be chosen from an age group younger than
that of the dead ruler. Thus, during thtr last decades of the mon¬
archy minnrs succeeded one another smd as a result a relative
(Prince Kung) or the Empress do^vager ruled. Ptjlitically;^ the feu¬
dal prerogatives uf the overlord were reduced to zero because
only the larder vassals, the overlords of frontier pnninecs, en¬
gaged in warfare and represiented military power. Probably for
this reason, too, the emperors gradually became mere paciHjit
bieraichs.

Thu emperor, as supreme pontlfex, bad ritual privileges svhich
entitled him alone to offer tlie highest sacriiicesiEp Warfare of a
vassal against the emperor was theoretically a ritual offense and
a possible source of magical evib, but this did not preclude occa¬
sional warfare against the emperor, just as the BEhop in the
Komon Empire claimed the chair in ehuieh eouiiclls so the Chi¬
nese emperf. 1 T nr his legate claimed the chair in the princely assem¬
blies; this is repeatedly mentioned in the Annals. At the iimu when
great individual were powerhi] jnajor^domos (lord pi^O-

tectors) this claim was disregarded-in lilenary theory, a ritusil
offense. Such princely councils met repeattHlly^ Ono of them in
iLc., e.g,p opposed disinheritance of the true heir^ opposed
bereditajy offices and the aceuuiulatlou of offices, capital punish¬
ment of high officials, “crooked'' politics, and prohibirions of grain
resale; but piety, honor to old age and reeoguiUon of merit were
upheld.

The urtity of the empire found practical espiessiou less in those
occasional princely a.ssiemblieH than in cultural homogeneitj'* As
in the occidental Middle Ages cultural unity was represenlcd by

^ 40 ^

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

three factors: first, the homogeneous status-mores of chivalry;
second, rehgious or ritual unity; and third, the homogeneity of
the literati.

In point of ritual and status, the forms of homogeneity among
chariot-fighting, chivalrous vassals and castled fief-holders were
similar to the Occident. Just as “barbarians” and “heathens” were
identified in the latter, so in China, a lack of ritual correctitude
was considered a mark of the barbarian or semi-barbarian. When
at a far later time the prince of Ch'in made mistakes in offering
sacrifices he was considered a semi-barbarian. Warfare against a
ritually incorrect prince was considered meritorious work. In
later times every one of the numerous conquering Tatar dynas¬
ties of China was considered “legitimate” by tfie depositories of
ritualist tradition when they correctiy adjusted to the rules of
ritual and thus to the authority of the literati caste. The demands
of “international law,” addressed to the conduct of princes in at
least theoretical expression of cultural unity, originated partly in
ritual, partly in the status groups of the krughts.

There was an attempt to have the princely assembly agree upon
a “peace of the land.” Theoretically, were a neighboring prince in
mourning, or in need, or especially were he beset by famine, war¬
fare was condemned as ritually incorrect. In the case of famine it
was a stipulated duty to give brotherly aid in distress in order to
please the spirits. He who wronged his feudal superior or fought
for an unjust cause gained a place neither in Heaven nor in 5ie
ancestral temple.^® To announce the time and place of battle was
considered a chivalrous obligation. Somehow the fight had to be
settled and, since the battle was an ordeal, it was necessmy to
know the victor and the defeated.^^

In practice, princely politics appeared instead to be a relentless
struggle between great and small vassals. The sub-vassals sought
every opportunity to gain independence. With single-mindedness
the great princes awaited the opportunity to fall upon their neigh¬
bors so that ihe whole epoch, to judge from the Annals, was an
age of unspeakably bloody wars. Yet the theory was not without
significance and was a rather important expression of cultural

THE EEUDAE and TEEBENDAL STATE » 4l c

unity. The repsreseiitatlve'S of this unity were tlie literati, i-e.^ the
sciipLurat scholnnc wlio^e ^rervices the princes utilized in tational-
idng their adinfriktratiom for power puiposia just as the Indian
princes used ihe Bjaiunans and oceident%al princes the Christian
clerics.

Even the odes of the scvEnlh ccuLmy sing the praises of war-
riora in preference to sages and literati* llio proud, ancient
Chinese stoicism aiid UjiC complete icjcctioD of interest in the
Tjcyond"^ was a legacy nf this militaristic epoch. In the year 753,
however, there Is mentioned Che appointment of an oHicjal court
annalist who was also court astrououjcr In tiie stale pf Ch'in. The
Txjoks"' of the princes, ie., books of Rites and Annals (coUccUons
of precedents), came to he considered litHity and the literati ob^
viijusly gained significanoer^ They kept the accounts and con*
rlucted the diplomattc correspondenco of the priuce.'i. Of the
latter^ the Annals have preser\^ed nuirif^rous esampleSp perhaps
edited as paradigms. They usnally indicated ratiicr Klachiavellian
means for ovor\vhelming neighboring princes by war and diplo¬
macy. They forged allidijccs and prepared for war, primarily
through rational organization of the army stockpiling, and taxa¬
tion policy. Here the liieinti i>bvinu!i!y qualifictl as budgetary
experts of the princes.^ The princes sought to Infiuence one an¬
other in the choice of literati, and to entice them from theii rivals.
The literati in turn corrcsiioudcd amoug Ihemsclves, changed
their employment, and often led a sort of migrator)* cxistenee.^'*
They went from court to court |ast like the cx^cideI^tal clerics and
secular intelkctuols of the later Middle Ages and, like die latter,
considered theuL'^elves homogcnifoiin .stmtaK

Com petition of the VVaning States for political |inwer caused
the princes to initiate rational economic policies.^'^ The literati
executed them. Shang Yang, a reprc-sentative of the literati, is re¬
garded OS the creator of rational internal administration; another,
Wei Yang foundf^fl die rational slsitc army system which WOS later
tii surpass all otliers. In Cblua^ as in tlic Ooeident, a Kirge popula¬
tion and tf,>i|«dcia!ly thf? wealth of the prince and his subjects were
pnliticol objectives which also ser\'ed as means to iKiwer*^** As in

> 42 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

the Occident, the princes and their literati, i.e., ritualist advisers,
first had to struggle against the stubborn resistance of their sub¬
vassals who threatened them with a fate identical to the one which
they had prepared for their own feudal overlords. Princely cartels
against subinfeudation were formed and the literati established
principles according to which inheritance of office was ritually
offensive and neglect of official duty incurred magical harm (early
deathThis characterizes the way in which bureaucratic ad¬
ministration displaced the administration of vassals, and hence
the charismatically qualified great families.

The corresponding transformation in the military sphere was
effected when the princes established body guards,** equipped
and provisioned armies under officers with concomitant taxation
and stock-piling policy instead of raising levies of vassals.
Throughout the Annals the status antagonism between the com¬
mon people and the great charismatically qualified sibs is pre¬
supposed. With war chariots and retinue the latter followed the
prince into the field. There were fixed statutes regulating dress.*®
The great families sought to secure their position through mar¬
riage policies,*® and even under the rational administration of
Shang Yang in the state of Ch’in such status barriers were retained.
The nobles were always distinguished from the people and it is
apparent that “the people” referred not to the serfs but to free
plebeian sibs who were simply excluded from the feudal hier¬
archy, from knightly combat, and from chivalrous education. It
was foimd that the people took political positions different from
the nobles.®^ Nevertheless, as we shall demonstrate later, the
situation of the mass of peasantry was precarious and it was only
when the patrimonial state developed that the princes alhed
themselves with the underprivileged strata against the nobihty.

2. The Restoration of the Unified
Bureaucratic State

STRUGGLE reduced the number of Warring States to an ever
smaller circle of rationally administered, unified states. Finally,

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 43 €

in the year 221, after the nominal dynasty and all other vassals
were displaced, the prince of Ch’in as first Emperor succeeded in
incorporating all China into the “Middle Realm ” That is to say,
he placed it as the patrimonium of the ruler under his own bu¬
reaucratic administration. A true “autocracy” displaced the theo¬
cratic feudal order by removing the old feudal crown council and
substituting two grand viziers in the manner of the praefecti
praetorio. Then mihtary and civil governors were separated (as
they were in late Roman institutions) and both placed under
princely supervisory oflBcials (as in Persia), such oflScials later
becoming the travelling censors (missi dominici).

With this a strictly bureaucratic order developed which was
open to all and which promoted according to merit and favor. A
financial factor operated alongside the universally effective and
natural alliance of the autocratic piler and the plebeian strata in
opposition to the status dignitaries and in favor of “democratiza¬
tion” of oflBcialdom. As mentioned above, it was not accidental
that the Annals ascribed the earliest sale of oflBce to the first
Emperor, Shih Huang Ti. This practice necessarily brought well-
to-do plebeians into state prebends. The struggle against feudal¬
ism, however, was one of principle. Any transfer of political
authority was prohibited, even within the sib of the Emperor, but
the status structure remained unaffected.®^

Ascent opportunities for oflBcials of lowly birth increased when
a fixed hierarchy of oflSces was established, preliminary steps to
which had been taken in the Warring States. But until the new
imperial authority, aided by plebeian forces, had triumphed over
feudal powers, men of plebeian descent could become pohtically
influential only within the hterati class and then only under spe¬
cial conditions. Since the beginning of the administrative ration¬
alization the Annals of the Warring States have contained exam¬
ples of princely trustees who were poor and of common descent
and who owed their positiorL solely to their knowledge.®® The
literati by virtue of their ability and mastery of the rites claimed
preference for supreme oflBces even above the princely next of
Idn,®^ a claim contested by the vassals. Thus, the literati usually

» 44 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

found themselves in unofiBcial positions rather like ministers with¬
out portfolio or, if you will, in the role of father-confessor to the
prince.

The feudal nobihty, as in the Occident, opposed the admission
of strangers to oflBces which they tried to monopolize—hence the
struggle between literati and nobihty. During lie early years of
Shih Huang Ti’s rule and before the unification of the empire, we
find in the year 237 a report of the expulsion of foreign-bom
hterati (and traders). The prince s interest in power, however, led
him to revoke this measure®* and henceforth his first minister was
a literatus who referred to himself as a parvenu of lowly birth.
After the imification of the empire, it is revealed in inscriptions®®
that the rational anti-traditionalist absolutism of the autocrat was
also forcefully turned against this socially influential aristocracy
of education, i.e., the hterati.

It was said, “The Emperor is more than Antiquity,”®^ meaning
that the past was not to rule the present and its interpreters were
not to dominate the monarch. If we may tmst tradition it describes
a tremendous catastrophe. The Emperor tried to destroy the
whole of classical hterature and the estate of the hterati by
burning the sacred books and aUegedly burying ahve 460 hterati.
Therewith, pure absolutism was ushered in; it was a rule based
upon personal favorites regardless of descent or education. It was
signahzed by the nomination of a eunuch for grand master of the
household®* and instractor for the second son. After the Emperor s
death, the eunuch and the parvenu hterati brought the second
son to the throne in opposition to the oldest son supported by the
army commander.

The favoritism of purely oriental sultanism, with its combina¬
tion of status-levelling and absolute autocracy, seemed to descend
upon China. It was a system which the aristocracy of the cultured
hterati were to fight with varying success for centuries throughout
the Middle Ages.

The Emperor, in order to express the claim to his position,
abohshed for free commoners the anciently used name of “the
people” (min) and replaced it with the name of chm shou.

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 45 €

"blackheads” or “subjects.” The colossal increase in forced labor®®
for imperial constructions required—as in the Empire of the
Pharaohs—the relentless and unlimited control over labor forces
and over the tax resources of the land.^® On the other hand, the
omnipotent palace eunuch'^^ of Shih Huang Tfs successor is ex¬
pressly reported to have recommended that the ruler ally himself
with “the people” and distribute oflBces without regard to station
or education. Now is the time for the sabre to rule, not fine man¬
ners. This advice is in perfect agreement with typical oriental
patrimonialism. However, the emperor fought against the ma¬
gicians^ attempt^® to make him “invisible” under the pretext of
raising his prestige. That would have meant interning him hke
the Dalai Lama and placing the administration entirely in the
hands of oflBcials. Rather he reserved “autocratic rule” in the
proper sense for himself.

Against this harsh sultanism a violent reaction came simulta¬
neously from the old families, the literati, the army (embittered
over construction services) and peasant sibs (overburdened by
army draft, corvees and taxes). The leaders were men of lowly
descent: Chen She, the leader of the army revolt, was a worker
[a peasant, Ed,] Liu Pang, the leader of the peasants and
founder of the Han dynasty, was the field-watchman of a village.
The nucleus of his power was a league of his sib and other peasant
sibs. It was not one from the genteel strata but a parvenu who
conquered. He brought about the fall of the^ dynasty and placed
in power the new dynasty which reunited the realm after its
separate states had fallen asunder. In the end, however, success
fell to the hterati whose rational administrative and economic
policies were again decisive in restoring imperial authority. Also
they were technically superior to the administration of favorites
and eunuchs, who were constantly opposed, and, above all, they
had on their side the tremendous prestige associated with knowl¬
edge of precedent, ritual, and scripture—at that time something
of a secret art.

Shih Huang Ti had created or at least sought to establish uni¬
fied systems of script, measin*ement, and weight, as well as unified

» 46 € THE RELIGION OF CHINA

laws and rules of administrative procedure. He boastfully ac¬
credited to himself the abolition of warfare^® and the foundation
of peace and internal order all of which he attained by “working
day and night.”'*^ Not all aspects of external unity were preserved.
Most important, however, was the abolition of the feudal system
and the establishment of a regime of officials who qualified
through personal merit. These patrimonialist innovations were
retained with the restoration of the Han dynasty and ultimately
only the literati profited by them even though they had cursed
them as outrages to the old theocratic order.

Feudal relapses occurred at a much later time. Under Emperor
Wu Ti and his favorite Chu-fu Yen during Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s epoch
(second century b.c.) the newly established feudalism had to be
overthrown when it re-emerged in the office fiefs of imperial
princes. First imperial resident-ministers were dispatch^ to
supervise the vassals’ courts. Then, in 127 b.c., in order to weaken
the vassals, partitioning the fiefs among the heirs was ordered.
Finally, under Wu Ti, court offices, hitherto claimed by nobles,
were granted to men of lowly birth (among them a former swine¬
herd). The nobles violently opposed this measure, but in 124 b.c
the literati succeeded in having the high offices reserved for
themselves. We shall show below how the Confucian literati
fought the anti-literati Taoists who were averse to popular educa¬
tion and whose magical interest alhed them first to the aristocrats
and later to the eunuchs. This struggle was decisive for the
structure of Chinese politics and culture, but was not definitely
settled at the time. Strong feudal residues survived in the status-
ethic of Confucianism. One may infer to Confucius covert and
self-explanatory belief in classical education (he had that educa¬
tion) as the decisive prerequisite for entering the ruling status-
group. As a rule, educational attainment should de facto be re¬
stricted to the ruling stratum of the traditional “old families.”
Thus, for the educated Confucian the term chiin tzu, princely
man, originally meant “hero.” Even for Confucius it was equiva¬
lent to the “educated” man and it was derived from the period of
the ruling estates when the hereditary charismatic sibs qualified

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 47 «

for political power. Yet one could not completely withhold recog¬
nition of the new principle of “enlightened” patrimonialism which
stipulated that personal merit and merit alone should qualify a
man for office, including that of the ruler. To be sure, this princi¬
ple made extremely slow headway and suflFered continuous re¬
lapse even on a theoretical level. Its practical significance will be
discussed below. Feudal elements in the social order gradually
receded and patrimonialism became the structural form funda¬
mental to the Confucian spirit. In the Annals antagonism between
the Confucians and the vassals is distinctly revealed in the latter s
hatred and scorn for the scholars wandering from court to court.^®

3. Central Government and Local
Officialdom

LIKE all farflung patrimonial states with undeveloped techniques
of communication the scope of administrative centralization char¬
acteristically remained very limited. After the bureaucratic state
had been established the contrast and rank differences continued
to exist between internal and external officials, i.e., employees of
the old imperial patrimonium and provincial officials. Moreover,
when successive attempts at centralization failed, patronage privi¬
leges—except for some supreme provincial offices—together with
almost the entire system of finance were relegated to the prov¬
inces. Fresh struggles surrounded this question throughout the
great periods of financial reform. Like other reformers Wang An-
shih (11th century) demanded effective financial unification, the
transfer of all tax income minus costs of collection, and an im¬
perial budget. The tremendous transportation difficulties and the
interests of provincial officials always watered this wine. Unless
the ruler was exceptionally energetic the officials usually under¬
stated the taxable area and the number of taxpayers by about 40
percent as is shown by the figures of pubhshed registrations.^®
The local and provincial costs, of course, had to be deducted so
that a very unpredictable tax-income remained to the central
authorities. In the end they capitulated: from the 18th century

THE uELiGiorr OF cnii^A

to modera Uinta the governors, just like Persian satnifis, trans-
ferreci tribute normaUy £.^ed in lump sum!! and in theory ooly did
this vary according to central need. Of tbi^ lator.

The regulation of taxes by l^uota had universal rnmifications for
the power of tho proviudal governors. They nominated and pre¬
sented for iip[>ointment to central authorities most of the district
officials. They executed the appointments but the small number
of authorized officials^^ loads one to cooelude that tlicy were
hardly able person idly to administer their gigantie bailiwicks.
Considering the all-encompassiDg duties of Chinese offldals one
must conclude that a district the sitb of a Prussian county, admin¬
istered by one official, could not be adequately administered even
by hi in rl reds. The empire resenibtod a eonfedcratioii of satrapies
under a poudhcal headL Formal authorily was exclusively in the
hands of the high provincial officials. After the uniBcation of the
empire and for the sake of their personal authority the empemrs
ingenuously cmploved eharactcristic patrlmoni'alist moans. There
ivcre short office terms, formally of three years, after which tlic
offldat was to be removed to a different province.^* Euifdo^Tneat
of an official in hij home proviuee was prohibited and likewise
the employmeut of relabves in the some bailiwiefc. There was a
thorough spy system to the form of so-called censors. Actually all
of these measures failcfd to estohlish a precise imd unified admin¬
istration for reasons to be discussed presently. In the central and
coll^ate bodies the president of one Ijamcit wim subordinated
as a niemhcT of other collegiate bodies to the presidcuts of other
l/amcns. This principle handicapped administrative precision
without attributing essenUalLy to unity, In dealing with the
provinces personal authority fared even worse. Except under
occssioually strong rulers the local adininistrativc districb dc-
ducterl their expenses from tiix-collections and falvificd land reg¬
istrations. If Ihcre werfl financially “passive" provinces as places
fur garrisons and magazines a complicated system provided the
transfer of yields from surplus provinces. Fur the rest tliare were
only tho traditional appioprialiuns and an unreliable budget both
at the central offices and in the provinces.

THK i’EUUAL AND FREDENDAL STATE w 49 €

The oentral authorities did not have clear msiglit iuto proviuecil
Ccanccs, iLc resulb. of which we shall show below, Until recently
the provincial governors concluded treaties with foreign powers
since the central goveriniiC'jjt was unt sufliqii^Dtly tirgani^ed to do
so. As we shall show^ almost all important administrative meas¬
ures which the ptoviodal governors formally issued were actually
issued by their riucjfHcial subordinateSn Until recently^ subordinate
authorities commonly considered the decrees of the eential gov¬
ernment as ethical and authoritative proposals or desires rather
than orders. Tiiis agreed with tlje |Mmtiheai and chansmatic
nature of Imperial authorityn Besides, os ean be seen at a glance,
these wore essentiMlly cnticisnis tjf administrative procedure
rather than orders. To be sure, the individud olHcial was remov¬
able at any tiiiiK but this did not benefit the central authontieSH
For the eentral authorities the olEeial was prevented from bb-cum-
ing iudependently powerful in the manner of the feudal vassal by
prohibiting employment in his home pjo\'inco and prescribing his
tri-annual shift, if not to another province^ at lea^ to another
officer Uhese measures contilbutcd iu the external unity of the
empire but its price was the failure of the authorized official to
strike roots in his bdliwick.

'1 he mandarin^ accompanted by a whole flock of sib mtfmbers,
friends, and personal clients assumed office in an unknov^'U prov¬
ince, Usually he did not understand its dialect and from the begin¬
ning was dependent upon an iuterjuett rs servicers. FiirtheTOOrey
nnt knowing provincial law^ which was based upon preeedcut, he
OOuld only incur danger by infraction of its sacred traditinn!?. Thus,
he was entirely dependf^nt upon the instructions of on unofficial
adviser, a native man of literary education who was thoroughly
familiar with local customs. He was a sort of father-confessor^ the
official treated him u^th respect, often with devotion, and called
him his “tendier.* Further, the official was dependent upm un¬
official assistants whom he had to pay from his ovm pocket.
Whereas his official state-paid staff bad to be born ouLsidu the
pravlncu, his unofficial assistants weru chosen from a number of
qualified candidates bom in the pro^Tnee. It was uecessar)' to rtrly

» 50 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

upon such men not yet appointed to oflBce but familiar with per¬
sons and local affairs, since the official lacked orientation of his
own. Finally, when assuming the governorship of a new province,
he relied upon the chief of the usual provincial departments who
had acquired knowledge about the subject matter and the lo¬
cale.^® After all, the latter preceded him through several years of
familiarity with local conditions. Obviously this resulted in actual
power being vested in the hands of the unofficial, native subordi¬
nates. And the higher the rank of the authorized official the less
was he able to correct and control their management. Thus the
local and central government officials were not sufficiently in¬
formed about local conditions to facilitate consistent and rational
intervention.

The emergence of feudal status and thus the emancipation of
officials from central authority was prevented under Chinese
patrimonialism by world-famous and highly efficient means. These
means were the introduction of examinations and appointment to
office on the basis of educational rather than birth and rank quali¬
fications. This was of decisive significance for Chinese administra¬
tion and culture and will be discussed below. But given the con¬
ditions, no mechanism could have functioned precisely in the
hands of the central authorities. When we later discuss the edu¬
cation of officials we shall show further blockages resulting from
the status honor of officialdom, the intimate nature of which was
in part religiously determined. In China, as in the Occident, the
patrimonial bureaucracy was the firmly growing nucleus to which
the formation of the great state was bound. In both cases colle¬
giate authorities and “departments” typically emerged, but the
spirit of bureaucratic work differed widely in the East and in the
West as will be shown below.

4. Public Charges: the Corvee-
State and the Tax-State

FROM the standpoint of sociological determinants, the spirit of
Chinese bureaucracy was connected with the system of public

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 51 «

charges as this developed with the vacillating money economy.
As usual the chieftain or prince {kung fieri, corresponding to the
Homeric tenemor) originally received a land allotment which was
jointly cultivated by the people. The universal corvee originated
in the “well system”—the state field being in the centre surrounded
by eight square fields—and found additional support in the com¬
pelling need for waterworks. Land-use joined to river administra¬
tion suggested the ever-emergent idea of imperial regality and is
still terminologically retained (as in England). However, like the
Egyptian Pharaoh, the Chinese emperor could scarcely prevent
the distinction between leased desmesnes and taxed private lands.
According to their apparent terminological traces, the taxes de¬
veloped partly from customary gifts, partly from obligatory
tributes of subject populations and partly from the claim to regah-
ties. Public land, obligatory tax, and forced labor were perma¬
nently co-existent and variously interrelated. Which predominated
depended partly on the scope of the budgetary economy—very
unstable for reasons of currency as we have shown—partly upon
the extent of pacification, and partly on the reliability of the
bureaucratic machine.

According to the legend, the “holy” (legendary) Emperor Yii
controlled the incoming tide and regulated the construction of
canals and Shih Huang Ti, the first Emperor to rule with a pure
bureaucracy, was considered the greatest builder of canals, roads,
fortifications, and especially the Great Wall (which he actually
brought only to partial completion). Such legend graphically ex¬
presses the origin of the patrimonial bureaucracy in the control of
the incoming tide and canal construction. The monarches power
is derived from the servitude of his subjects, as indispensable for
flood control as it was in Egypt and the Middle East. The legend
also describes how the unified empire developed from a growing
interest in unified flood control over wider areas, an interest con¬
nected with the pohtical need to secure the culture-area against
nomadic invasions.

Besides irrigation, the buildings served fiscal, military, and pro¬
visioning needs. Thus the famous Grand Canal from the Yangtze

» 52 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

to the Huang Ho was used to transport rice tributes from the South
to the new capital of the Mongol I^ans (PekingAccording to
oflBcial report, at one time 50,000 forced laborers worked on a river
dike but building work was piecemeal and extended through
many centuries. Even Mencius considered the corvee rather than
the tax as the truly ideal method of meeting pubhc requirements.
After divination had designated the proper place for a new capital
the Chinese king resettled his subjects despite resistance, just as
was done in the Middle East. Penal deportees and impressed sol¬
diers stood guard over dikes and sluices and provided part of the
labor force for construction and clearing. Step by step the labor
forces of the army reclaimed desert soil in the border provinces of
the West.®^ Mournful complaints about the terrible burden of this
monotonous fate, particularly the labor on the Great Wall, are to
be found in the poems preserved. The service was often almost
life-time, wives missed their husbands and it seemed better not
to rear sons.®^ Classical doctrine had to oppose emphatically the
wasteful expenditure of corvees by the prince for private con¬
struction purposes in the Egyptian manner. In China, such waste
also accompanied the development of bureaucratically organized
pubhc works. Once the system of forced labor disintegrated the
desert began to advance into the areas of Central Asia and the
dearly-won soil is completely covered by sand today.®^ Besides,
the pohtical strength of the empire gave out. The Annals bewail
the neghgent cultivation by the peasants on the royal estates. Only
exceptional personahties could centrally organize and direct the
state based on serfdom.

The corv4e remained the classical way of meeting state require¬
ments. As means of financing pubhc needs, the relationship be¬
tween taxes in kind (corvee) and money taxes (for commissions)
is indicated in a seventeenth century discussion before the Em¬
peror of the best system for making certain repairs on the Grand
Canal. It was decided that the work should be commissioned for
money payment since the repairs would otherwise require ten
years time.®^ Repeated attempts were made to reheve the civihan
populace by regimenting the peace-time army for corvees. Thus,

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 53 «

until 1471 under the Ming, it was prescribed that half of the grain
for the capital should be transported by the army and half of it by
the civilian population. In 1471, it was ordered that the army
alone should ship the grain.®®

Even in early times there were taxes besides army levies, corvees
and hturgies. Apparently the corvee on royal land, in particular,
was abohshed very early in the state of Chm (during the sixth
century b.c.); later, in the third century b.c., its ruler was to be¬
come the first Emperor of the whole realm.

Of course, taxes existed much earlier. As usual, the imperial
requirements were levied in land and distributed among certain
regions®® and residues of this system siurvived until recently. The
system of taxes in kind was intimately connected with the estab¬
lishment of the patrimonial army and oflBcialdom. As usual, both
were provisioned from imperial magazines and fixed prebends-in-
Idnd developed. At times, however, the state money economy also
advanced, as the documents indicate at least for the Han Dynasty
around the beginning of our chronology.®^ Alongside the increas¬
ing general drift toward money economy there continued to exist,
until recently, sporadic servitude (especially for construction pur¬
poses, courier and transportation services), fees, taxes in kind as
well as in money, and a princely oikos economy for certain luxTiry
demands of the court.®®

This shift toward money taxes pertained also and especially to
the land tax, until recently the most important tax. We do not
intend to trace its interesting history in detail here,®® but shall
discuss necessary points in connection with the agrarian system.
Here it may suffice to state that the tax system in China, though
occasionally more differentiated, increasingly tended toward a
unified tax just as in the patrimonial states of the Occident; it was
done by changing all other levies into surtaxes on the land tax.

This resulted from the fact that wealth not invested in land
remained “invisible” to the extensive imperial administration and
could not be reached by its taxation technique. That invisible
wealth tends to evaporate perhaps partly determined the en¬
deavors to meet as many state requirements as possible through

» 54 c

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

means typical of subsistence economy, i.e., by corv^es and
liturgies. Probably in addition to this, currency conditions were
primarily and truly decisive. There are two developmental tend¬
encies of the land tax which generally afiFect all extensively
administered patrimonial states. First, there is a tendency to
commute the land tax into a money tax, a tendency which spreads
to all other charges, especially to forced labor and other hturgies.
Second, there is a tendency to change the land tax into a lump
sum tax and ultimately into a fixed tribute collected from the
provinces according to fixed quota. We have already touched
upon this highly important process.

The pacification of the empire under the Manchu dynasty al¬
lowed the court to renounce movable income and led to the
famous edict of 1713, praised as a source of the renewed flowering
of China in the 18th century. In intent this edict transmuted the
land tax of the provinces into fixed charges, as we shall discuss
presently. Besides the land tax, the gabelle, mine taxes, and,
finally, the customs contributed to the income of the central ad¬
ministration. The amount transferable to Peking became, de
facto, traditionally fixed just as it was for the central administra¬
tion. Only the wars with the European powers and the financial
emergency following the Tai Fing rebellion (1850-1864) pushed
the li kin customs of Sir Robert Hart’s splendid administration into
the foreground of the imperial finances.

With quota-regulation of taxes and subsequent pacification of
the empire, the population increased tremendously. Further rami¬
fications were the expendability and elimination of servitude and
the controls of occupational choice, of the compulsory passport
and other barriers to free mobility, of house ownership and con¬
trol of production. According to the registration figures, which in
part are highly questionable, the population of China apparently
fluctuated widely but at the beginning of the Manchu dynasty
the population was not much larger than under Shih Huang Ti
almost 1900 years earher. In any case, for centuries, the alleged
population figure had fluctuated between 50 and 60 million peo¬
ple, but from the middle of the 17th century until the end of the

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE > 55 «

19th century, this figure rose to some 350 to 400 million people.*®
Proverbial Chinese acquisitiveness developed on both a small and
large scale and considerable fortunes were accumulated. The fol¬
lowing phenomena must appear the most striking of the epoch:
despite the astounding population increase and the material wel¬
fare of the population, Chinese intellectual life remained com¬
pletely static, and despite seemingly favorable conditions modem
capitah'st developments simply did not appear.

The once considerable export trade of China did not revive and
there was only passive trade in a single port (Canton) which was
open to Europeans but strictly controlled. Popular endeavor,
such as might have been nourished by internal capitahst interests'
did not arise to shatter this barrier. All evidence points to the
contrary, for in the European sense, “progressivism,” generally
speaking, emerged neither in the field of technology, nor economy,
nor administration. Finally, the financial strength of the empire
could not apparently withstand the serious pressures necessitated
by requirements of foreign policy. It is our central problem to
explain all these striking phenomena in view of the unusual popu¬
lation growth which, despite all criticism, cannot be doubted.

Both economic and intellectual factors were at work. The for¬
mer, which we shall discuss first, pertained to the state economy
and were therefore political in nature. The political-economic like
the “intellectual” factors at work resulted from the pecuharity of
the leading stratum of China, the estate of officials and candidates
for office, the mandarins. First we shall discuss the material situa¬
tion of the latter.

5 . Officialdom and Tax Collection
by Quota Levies

AS SHOWN above, the Chinese official originally depended on
prebends in land from royal magazines, but later on money sal¬
aries were permanently substituted. Thus the government formaUy
gave salaries to its officials, but only a fraction of the forces actu¬
ally engaged in administration were so paid. Often the salaries

» 56 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

formed but a small, indeed an insignificant part of their income.
The ofiBcial could neither have lived on his salary, nor have cov¬
ered the administrative costs which it was his oflBcial obligation
to cover. What actually happened was this. The oflBcial, like a
feudal lord or satrap, was responsible to the central government
(the sub-oflBcial to the provincial government) for the delivery of
certain amounts. In turn, he financed most of his administrative
expenditures from fees and tax-income and retained a surplus.
Though not recognized de jure, it was de facto the case and was
among the lasting consequences of the tax-quota system.

The so-called fixation of the land tax in the year 1713 was
actually the crown s financial and political capitulation to the
oflSce prebendaries. In reality, the charges on land were by no
means transmuted into a fixed ground rent (as for instance in
England). Instead the central administration feed the amount of
tax yield to be credited to the district and provincial oflBcials. That
was the sum from which the crown demanded a quota as its
tribute. In eflFect, the central government had merely feed taxes
on the prebends of these satraps for an indefinite time. This mean¬
ing is clearly revealed in an otherwise nonsensical formulation of
the measure: a number of provincial districts were liable to taxa¬
tion while other districts were completely exempted. Periodic
population censuses actually listed the districts in that manner.
Naturally, it did not mean that a corresponding number of inhabit¬
ants were tax exempt but merely that oflBcials counted them as
tax exempt. As early as 1735, the emperors ceased to distinguish
between the two categories in census enumerations since it served
no purpose.

It was thoroughly in keeping with the nature of patrimonialism
to have considered the oABciaPs income from administering a dis¬
trict as his prebend, from which his private income was not really
separated.®^ The oflBce prebendaries felt the strongest reservations
about raising the land tax or any other tax as a lump sum from
the taxpayer. It cannot really be held that the imperial adminis¬
tration seriously intended to fix taxes in such a manner. In keep¬
ing vrith patrimonial principle, the oflBcial not only had to finance

THE FEUDAL AND PREBENDAL STATE » 57 n

the civil and legal r^uirements of his district administration
from this income but in addition his administrative staff. Experts
estii^ted a staff varying from 30 to 300 even for the smallest
administrative umt (hsien) and frequently these men were re¬
cruited from the scum of the populace. As we have seen, the
official, a stranger in the province, was hardly in a position to
administer without such a staff. His personal and administrative
expenditures were not separated. Thus, the central administration
did not know the actual gross income of the individual provinces
and districts, the provincial governors did not know the prefects’
income, etc.

On the other hand, the taxpayers maintained a principled re¬
sistance to any payments not fixed by tradition. That we shall see,
and also why, vnthin broad limits, they could very successfully do
so. Their resistance to the continuous endeavors to raise surtaxes
was precarious, and it depended essentially upon the power con¬
stellation. Apart from this, officials had two means of increasing
the income. First, they could raise a surtax of at least 10 percent
to cover the cost of tax collection. Second, a similar surtax could
be levied for untimely payments, whether the arrears were caused
willingly or unwillingly by the debtor or (often enough) inten¬
tionally by the officid. Furthermore, the taxes in kind were
Ranged into money taxes; then the money taxes were changed
into silver, next into copper, and again into silver, all of this at
changing rates the determination of which was reserved to the
tax collector himself. For this reason influential men always pre¬
ferred, and successfully insisted on, payment in land.

It should not be overlooked that by patrimonial standards every
official act had to be paid in “gifts,” for there was no legal sched¬
ule of fees. The gross income of the official, including extra profits,
was first used to defray the material office costs and the cost of
admimstrative duties. The state expenditure on internal admin¬
istration was a minute fraction of the total expenditure. Moreover,
superior officials drew their incomes from the gross income of the
lowest-rung official who was directly at the source of the taxes.
He had to transfer to his superior the often rather small amount

» 58 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

which represented his obhgation in the traditional tax register.
Upon assuming oflBce, and on regularly recurrent occasions, he
had to make the largest possible ‘‘gifts” in order to secure the
good will of the superior so decisive for his own fate.®^ In addi¬
tion, he had to provide ample tips for the superior s unoflBcial
advisers and sub-oflBcials inasmuch as they could influence his
fate. This extended to the doorman should he wish to be received
for a conference, and it continued upward to the palace eunuch
who exacted tribute even from the highest officials. From the land
tax alone, experts estimated a one to four ratio between the offi¬
cially announced and the actual tax income.^

In 1712-13, the central government and the provincial oflScials
compromised on tax repartition. In terms of money economy this
compromise was roughly comparable to the fixation of feudal
obligations in the subsistence economy of the Occident. There
were, however, differences. First, in China, as in all specifically
patrimonial states, prebends not fiefs were at stake. There were
tributes in kind and especially in money from both fee and tax
prebendaries upon whose administrative services the central au¬
thorities typically depended. It was not a question of the military
services of self-equipped knights upon whom the prince de¬
pended. There was a second significant difference. In the Occi¬
dent, prebends, both fee and tax prebends, were also known. At
first this was true only of church territory, but later the patri¬
monial state was similarly modelled. However, the prebend was
either for life (except in the case of formal removal) or it was
hereditarily appropriated like the fief. Frequently it could even
be transferred by purchase. The fees, customs, and taxes sup¬
porting the prebends were fixed by privilege or custom.

In China, as we have shown, it was precisely the authorized
official who could be freely removed and transferred. Moreover,
after short periods he had to move from one oflBce to another.
Partly (and mainly) this helped the central authorities to retain
power, but partly it gave opportunity to other candidates, as is
occasionally indicated.®^ Oflficialdom as a whole was secure in its
enjoyment of tremendous income from prebends, but the position

» 5<9 «

THE FEUDAL AND FREBENDAL STATE

of the indi\idual oiDdal wax very precarious. Acquiring ufiicc was
very costly (stiitiy, purchase, ^ts. autl “fees") and the official,
often ha\nng plunged hinL'ielf into debt, was compdlcd tn make
the most of hLi shfirt term of office. In the absence of fixed taxes
and guarantees he could do this. Indeed, it went Without saying
that the office existed for the making of a fortune, which was ob¬
jection aide only if done to excess, n.« niiTncrous rescripts reveal.
According to the Pekinfi Cnziitte of March 23. 1832, a Canton
official in a few months had accumulated 100,000 taels in excess
of the usual amount (sic!). A fiimrl scribe in Fukien was able to
purchase tlie pnifecture in Kiangsu. Customs officLals had annual
incomes of lOO to 150,000 taels.

There were, however, other broader ramifications of this sihia-
tiem, First, the power-position of the central govcniment was most
effectively gnarantMid by the system of transferring individual
officials. Because of cootuiuous regrouping and changing oppor¬
tunity, eadr official competed with every other for pre&nds. Each
was prevented from reconciling imr.sonal and inter-[}crsouaJ inter¬
ests, and the rclaiiou of each to his superiors was very precarioiis.
The whole authoritarian and intimnlized bondage of Chinese
officialdom was L-onneeted with this. To be sure, tliere were "par-
tics” among the officials. They grouped themselves by ctjmmon
regional descent or, comiectetl with this, by the lraditir}na1 charnc-
tei of tliK schools where they bad betfii etlueated. ReceuLv die
“coDserv'ative” school of the iif}rthem provirices was opposed by
the "progressive" school of the central prDvince.s and the "ladical"
school of the Cantonese. Imperial edicts even at that time spoke
of the aiitagcmism between those following the educational
mctiiod of the Sung and those following that of the Han in one
and the same ytanen. However, no regional particularism such as
to endanger the unity of tliu empire could develop on this basts
for, by princiiile, the officials had to be stranger; to the province
and were coutinitously mnved alKiuL Besides die authuride; were
careful to mbs adherents of rival scboots and regional groupings
within the same bailiwick and offict: rank. Separatism Iiad quite
different bases, as wc shall discuss presently. The official paid for

» 60 n

THE BELICION- OF CUISA

his in rclaLion to superiDrs in b^ing tlie df^pciidt^nt vic¬

tim of his inferiors. An even more important result of this pre^
bendal structure was its extreme adniiiiistrative and poUlieo-
econnmic tr:idJtionalismH While originating in a specLil ethos this
traditionalism dso had a highly “mtional*" basis.

Any rnttm^entinn in the tiaditional eccmoniy and administration
impinged upon the unforeseeable and innumerable interests of the
dominant stratum in its f^es and prebends. SiuL-e any utGdal could
DUCe be removed to a less rcmimerative po:ikt^ officialdoTn stood
togfJther as one man and obstructed as strongly as the tax payer
cvciy attempt to ehauge the system of fee, custom^ or fax pay¬
ments. In the Occident the permanent appropriation of fees and
profit OppOrtimiUes made the interests involved ahundantly clear.
That was the case with payment of customs, convoys, tolls, and
rights of way, or of storage and road paswage. As a rule, definite
interest groups had the opportunity to organize and to remove
obstructious to cOmmunicalJoii by force^ compromise^ or privi¬
lege. In China, however, this was out of the question. Profit
opportuaiLies were not individually appropriated by the highest
and dominant stratum of ofUcioldom^ rather, they were appm^
priated by the whole estate of removable officials. It was the latter
who collectively opposed interventioa and perseenled with deadly
hatred any rational ideologist who called for "reform.” Only vio¬
lent revolution from above or below could have changed this. In
general, any innovatioa endangered either tlie pr&sant or future
interest of eacli official in hb fees—whether this meant Substituting
the nuich cheaper transport of tributes by ocean steamer for
baigc traffic through the ImperiaL Canah changing traditional
ways of collecting customs or of transportmg pcrsmis, nr settling
petitions and trials. In going over tin; series of refomis projected
by die Emperor in the year 1898, one can realize tliat even
partially executing diem would have produced tremendous re¬
verses in income. Then one can estimate the complete hopeless¬
ness of reform because of the vast material interests opposing it,
jmd because there were no disinterested executive organs inde¬
pendent of these Interest groups.

THE FEUUAL AJJO PREBENDAL STATE * ft! c

The piiitinilarism of the- pro\'inocs, primanly finimcfiU partluj-
larism, origiRAted in this tiadihonalism. It Arose beLSuxfj any ad-
minis tralivc L-entralization seriously jeopard is^ed the prebends of
the provincial official and his unufHdal retiime. Indeed, it was this
that prevented die central administrative ratiunalization of the
ernpire as well as a unified economic policy.

It fs inrportant to rucogniTO in principle that, contrary to our
expectations, the pure patrimonial state organizadons in the
Orient lifd nnt follow an otherwise aJmniit universal destiny. For
rather than weaheniug traditionalism, the money economy, in
eUcct, strengthened It. This was because the money economy,
associated with prebends, created special profit opportuuities for
the doiuinant stratiim. Generally it reenforced their render men¬
tality*® and rendered paramount their interest in preserving those
economic conditions so decisive for their own profit from pre¬
bends. With every advance of the money economy in Egypt, the
Islamite states, and China, we observe the concomitant and in-
creasing prebendalizatiou of state income. There are short inter¬
mediary [icriuds for the appropriation of prebends to be com¬
pleted, but, in general, that phenomenon presents itself which we
usually evaluate as "ossification* (Ersturrun^^

A general result of oriuiital patrinionlalism with its pecuniary
prebends was that, typically, only military conquest of the coun¬
try'. or successful militaiy or religious revolutions cunld shatter
the firm stnictnre of prebendary interests, thus creadng com¬
pletely new power distributions and in turn new economic condi¬
tions, Any attempt at internal innovatiOD, however, was wrecked
by the aforementioned obstacles. Modem Europe, os uotml, is a
great historic'al osception to this because, above all, pacification
of a unified empire was iaekiug. We may recall that, in tlie War¬
ring States, the very stratum uf state prebendaries who blocked
administrative rationalizadon in the world empire were once its
most powerful promoters. Then, the stimulus was gone. Just as
competition fur markets compelled the rationalization of private
enterprise, so competition for pnlitical power compellL'd the ra¬
tionalization of state economy and economic |]olicy both in the

» 62 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Occident and in the China of the Warring States. In the private
economy, cartelhzation weakens rational calculation which is the
soul of capitalism; among states, power monopoly prostrates ra¬
tional management in administration, finance, and economic
policy. The impulse toward rationalization which existed while
the Warring States were in competition was no longer contained
in the world empire. But this was not all. In China during the
Period of the Warring States the scope of administrative and
economic rationahzation was much more limited than in the
Occident. In addition to the aforementioned differences, in the
Occident, there were strong and independent forces. With these
princely power could ally itself in order to shatter traditional fet¬
ters; or, under very special conditions, these forces could use their
own military power to throw off the bonds of patrimonial power.
This was the case in the five great revolutions which decided the
destiny of the Occident: the Itahan revolution of the 12th and
13th centuries, the Netherland revolution of the 16th century, the
English revolution of the 17th century, and the American and
French revolutions of the 18th century. We may ask: were there
no comparable forces in China?

CHAPTER III

ADMINISTRATION AND
RURAL STRUCTURE

HP

-ii-HE

HE intense acquisitiveness of the Chinese has undoubtedly
been highly developed for a long tune. This drive and the unscru¬
pulous competitiveness toward sib outsiders were incomparably
strong among the Chinese. The only possible exceptions to it were
the monopolistic guilds of the wholesale and especially the
overseas-traders. Ethically, their acquisitiveness was strongly tem¬
pered for reasons of business.

Industry and capacity for work among the Chinese have always
been considered unsurpassed. The merchant guilds, as we have
seen, were more powerful than in other coimtries and their auton¬
omy was practically unlimited. By European conceptions the
tremendous growth of the Chinese population since the early 18th
century and the constant increase of precious metals would lead
one to expect favorable opportunities for capitalist development.
Again we return to our initial problem. Although we have ad¬
duced some reasons for the fact lhat capitahsm did not emerge we
have no satisfactory answer as yet.

The following features of Chinese development stand in sharp
contrast to the Occident: The epoch beginning with the eight¬
eenth century was characterized by a tremendously increasing
population—not, as in England, by a relatively decreasing rural
In the countryside there were typically more and smaller

> 63 <

one

s 64 ^

THE HELCGION OF CHINA

holdings of peasants rather lhaii the large sfcale agncultural enter¬
prises Xu be found, for example, in Eastern Germany. Finally, and
in conneotiott with this^ the cattle population was negligible. Cat¬
tle were rarely slaughtered (practically only for sacrificial pur¬
poses jnllt consumption was absent; and “eating meat" was
equivalent to being genteel since it indicated the privilege of the
official to share meat at sacrificial feasts. How did oil this come
about?

I. Feud^ and FL^cal Or^aru^^^ion

BECAUSE the scnirces avutlnble to the non-stnologUt arc limited,
we emutot possibly describe the devuliipment of Cbinese agricul*
hire,’ In otir contest wo need fsnsider it Only insofar as piublems
of a^arlan policy reveal the aatuic ol Chinesu Ktato organizatloD,
For it will be seen at a glance that military and £iutxicial reform
determinod ftindamental changes in the rural economy* Hence,
the history of CbiDCSC agriculLtire dixplayy a monotonous to and
fro between alternate, equally possible principles of taxation. The
resultant ways of dealing with mial property have been quite
unrelated to internal “evolution" ever Since the breakdown of
feudalism.

In feudaJ limca tlie peasants were undoubtedly serfs of the
feudal lords to whom they owed taxes and Jabor. This was true, if
not for all, at least for most of the peasants. At the time of Shih
Huang Ti they apparently sbU retained some ability to bear arms.
Even had this not been the case, [tiaunrial serfdom under a feudal
lord in the Western sense should not necessarily he assumed.
Bather political subjection to princely i)owcr was determined by
river control in the manner of Egypt and the Middle East.

Cnndilionii called chien ptng in the Annals were usually sharply
fought by the goverumenL Under these conditions the peasants,
because of the threat of war and insecurity or because of over-
indebtedness through taxes and loans, crowded around tlte seats
of the propertied and commended themselves ax clients ftVen jt'oj.
The govenunent sought to secure direct tax payment from the

ADMJJflSTl^ATION ANII ffUBAt STRUCTURE 65 t

peasant m order to prevent the rise of a politically tkiigemos
caste of landlords. Yct^ imdcr the Hao dynajsty^ landlords are at
least e3rpre^Iy reported- to have paid the taxes of thdr

cofoni, The mflitarj' “usurper** Wang Mang^ like tlie military mon-
aich Shih Huang Ti^ sought to de^itroy the position of the land¬
lords by introducing imperial land regalia. Apparently he failed.

Wc know notliijig of the initial extent of a manorial economy
like that of the Occident In any ease, such a manoHal economy—
should its cxlstcacc be demonstrated— would probably not have to
be ctmsidered typical Even less need it be regarded the result of
feudalism, for the legal provisions do not allow us to ascertain
whcdicr manors of the ocddcTital type could be based upon them.
Nor do the sources avaibUe to the non-siuologist permit us to
asci^rtaln the nature of the agtadan oommunity* It remains doubt¬
ful whether, and how, the village communf^ was connected witli
the feudal system. That is usu^y the case," but it is also possible
that the communitj' was fiscal in origTn^ as has often happened
elsewhere.

For insbmee, under the "Fflng dynasty in 0M AdR, the peasants
were orggn te ed into small administrative distrieCs for pur«

poaes of taxation. In these distncts the peasants were guorauteed
certain allotn^ents which were perhaps received from public landn
These facts are bcyoTid dcaiht, idnoe Japan has borrowed the in-
Ftitution. Retirement from the hsi^ng and knd sale in this case
was permissible, hut purchase into anotlier tax collectivity was re¬
quired. Certainly the associations of landlords did not end with
tills merely ruLativn dosuxu.

The very radical regrouping of population into joint liability
assocIaUoiLS of Lax payesrs, serfs, and djaftce:; indicates that the
duty of tilling tiie soil in the fiscal interest of the state was always
considered piimaiy. The coirespondiug "'righF to the land was
derivative.

Apparently this did uot result in a communal village economy
which would currespond tn Gerrnanic, Russian^ or Indian condi¬
tions, llae existence of tillage commons f in the Western

sense can noly be inf erred from eceasionai hints and as part of the

» 66 c

THU HljUnlCIOX OF CHINA

tcjnotti past The imperioJ tax rescripts iJcKae not the village but
the family as the taxable unit. This included those from 15 to 58
years who were its working members (ting). They were organized
by rescript into artifictal liability assneiahons, at the latest during
the llLh century and probably much earlier. We aball show below
that the village nevertheless represented an associatioa which was
largely sdf-gpvcming. Considering the sluiip fiscal interventioiis
it is not at all self-evident that u different associatioa, wliich was
perhaps originally confined to noble families/ could have com¬
prised, since remote times, the entire rural population in good
standing. The associabon was not destroyed by these
measures.

The unbroken and oouLniued existence of the cohesive sib and
the pre-ciiiincut pusition of its head, can he ascertained through
thousands of years. Ancieut kudltiidism in China may well have
originated in this. As we noted above, military service aod pre¬
sumably all public charges were originally allocated to tlie sih,
From numerous onalogieii and subsequent changes, we may infer
that the head of the sib was held rcs|miisible for the allocation of
taxes and labor. After private property Imd been instituted, i.c.,
after the land nr its use had been formally appropriated by indi*
vifliia! families, the head of the sib is reported to Iwve occasion¬
ally been replaced by the wealthiest landlord (accoiding to tra¬
dition In lOS), Thus the “old man"' who hod been lintmsted With
the allocation of Lmd faxes, and who bad thereby gained an op
portiiiiity for accumulating wealth, became a landloriL His im¬
poverished sib membeni became his serfs. This change has numer¬
ous and well-known parallels. Besides, this “privilege” of the
wealthy was not experienced as such but rather as a liturgy. That
was intended, anti some sought to evade the burden by means of
fictitious land sales and family divisions. 'Hie non-sinologist Cannot
judge whether a stratum of serfs witlioiit sib affiliation existed
alongside the sib members who, ax usual, constituted an upper
stratum and etaimed a monopoly m land anrl slave holdings In
Ghina, too, the right to own slaves was an exclusive privilege of
high status groups. The existence of serfs has been ascciiainod

AIlMIJ^r^^TRATlQN AND HURAL STRUCTURE » 67 «

aad originally of the peasants were probably serfs. Ehiring
Lbc 4th cOQhiry ac. tmly the htan families who qualified for office
were allowed to own seifs. The serfs did not pay ¥o (land lax) iiur
did they render (forL-eiJ labur). Ob^'^nusly, unless they had
acquired tax innnunity, their lords paid their taxes. Acoirdhig tn
the Annals iiidividiiai families fiwned ""up to forty” serfs. Thi^
permits us to conclude that the estates of wealthy landlords were,
at that tinic, modest in size. Slavery' has always existeri in China,
tint apparently it was economically important only when moneyed
wealto was being accunmlated in trade and stale ctimmisisions.
Thus, slavery' took the form of debt slavery and peonage^ as we
shall discuss below,

Deeislvn etiauges in tlie rural eajriomy apparently alwavs ema-
Dated from the government. They were connected with tlie regu¬
lation of taxes and military serviee. The "First Emperor,’' Shih
Huang Ti, repoTtedly effected a general disarmament of the
country. This measure was undoLditedly primarily ilirected against
the armed forces of the feudal lords^ radically suppressed by the
Emperor. But the course of the rebellion whie^ brought abtjut the
fall of the dynasty makes it apparent that* until then, broad strata
of peasants were armed (just as in Germany before Ilje disarma-
munt which followed the Peasant War), The founder of the Han
d>Tiast>' and other rebels were peasants and relied, at least iu jjiui;
upou liic military^ Siup[>art of ttieir sihs.

At the same time “private property" was instituict:!— a process
which has since recuned in China. Tlie institution of pii^'atc
property meant that land was distributed among peasant families
(among which ones can hardly be ascertainud); that the peasant
oivners were freed from the existing taxes (which Ones?); and
that new state burdens were directly imposed ujion them. These
state burdens were partly in tlie form oF taxes, partly forced labor,
and partly a draft for the emperoFs patrimonial army. Decisive
for later devetopEiicuts was the relative degree to which the gov¬
ernment was concerned with defense^ the corvee, or the peasant s
tax-paying ability. It was important whetlicr there were more
taxes in land or in money* and related to this, whether the army

THE nELICtOH OF CHINA

was uompiscd of regimentBcl subjects or of mertenoriei. Finally^
what technical means were used by the aduiuustxafion to enforce
these obligations® was of decisive import.

iTlcsc compment factors have al! changed, and the OntagO'
rusms between literati schDoU—which have pervaded die entire
Chinese literature—^ve^e largely centered in die technical prob*
Ions of administration. With die threatening storm of the Mongols
at the beginning of the Uth century a.d., diose antagonisms be-
C3ime acute. A central problem for all social reformers of the
time-as for the Gnochi-was liow to maintain or eslablish an
adequate mmy to face the barbarians of the Northwest, and
wbetfacr to raise the necessary means by money payment or pay¬
ment in kind.

The typical and by no means peculiarly Ciiincre way of secur¬
ing die various contributions from the peasants was to form
compulsory and Joint liability associations (of five to ten families)
and tax classes of land owners, graded by holdings (for miciatict
into classes). The attempt was made to niaiiLtain. and raise
the number of taxable peasants in order to prevent the accumula¬
tion of property and the development of unculHvated or ex¬
tensively farmed land-s. Moreover, repeated attempts were made
to define Tnaximal holdings, to Imfc the right to own land to effec¬
tive culUvatlon, to ojicii np land for setdement, and to redistribute
laud oil tlie Kisis of an average land allotment per working
peasant—roughly comparable to the Russian "nadyel."

The Chinese tax administratiou faced considerable difficulty in
this as in all laud regisLratiou, since its measuring technique was
very poor. The only truly scientific and *'g«ometrical" work* w'as
bomiwed from the Hindus and indicates teclmiquKs of measure¬
ment short of Irigoiiometry. The measurement of the individual
acres hardly equalled the ancient Germanic or wen the truly
primitive technique of the Roman (Jgrimcnsores. Astounding er¬
rors to measurement—comparable to Uie Medieval bankers* mis-
calcuktfiins-appareiitly were commonplace. Obviously the unit
of measuremeut, tlie Ghmese foot, differed from province to
province despite Sbih Huang Ti’s reforms. The imperial font

ADMtKiSTBATlON AND HURAL STHUCTUBE » 69 «

(equd lo 320 mmO was usually the Jarffcst. but the unit varied
by 255,306,315,31S to SaS mm.

The basic unit of land measureiuent whs the mou, in tbeoiy, a
long strip of knd wJiicli whs at first 100, later 240 tiuies I and
equivalent sometimes to 5, sometinies 0 feet In the latter case, if
H font of 306 mm, were the base, the strip equalled S.62 at. There
were 100 tiWu toa e/i'ing, equivalent to 5.62 ha. Under the Han 12
nwu were considered necessajty for the individual—in Kussian
lenns, the "soul nadyel ” Each mnu protiuced Hi shih of rice. Th«
earliest note implies that before Wen Wangs rule (12th century
B.c.), 50 mini (then 3.24 or) were eulculated per capitd, 5 lUOu of
which (i.e., 1/10) were nultivated for the treasury as fcimg hsien
t’itm (royal land). Hence, a holding of 2,916 ho was gfinsiilfT<»fl
the normal per capiia holding. This note, however, is wholly un¬
reliable,''

For a thousand ynois or longer, not land imi ts bnt famiTfi-s were
Doniially counted a$ the unit and, as noted above, the elfl^s ifira-
fion ^vas perhajis by fing, i.e., number of working mcinhers." But
the soil was crudely classified as "black’ or "red” most probably
as irrigated or uonirrigated laud, and this resulted in two tax
classes. Or, clawifl cation was by the extent of foilnw: 1. land with¬
out fallow, hence irrigated laud; 2. the three field system ^ 3. pas¬
ture (Feldffnistinjlschiiftsland).

The oldest available ootices caJeulatcd the normal family claim
at 100 niou (5.62 ha) for the first soil categcay; 200 ihom (11.24
Ac) for the second; 300 fltou (16,80 he) for lliw third. This would
correspond to a single tax per family not per unit of laud. Occa¬
sionally the differences by age compositiou and size led to the idea
of placing targe families on good soil wnd small ones on poor soil.
It is of conise vmy doubtful to what extent this was rcali^K^d. To
be sure, resettlement of the population lias always been consid¬
ered an easy W'ay to equalize standards nf living, the cor\'ce, and
the ability to pay taxes. The entire regular tax assessment could,
Ijtnveiver, hardly have been based on this possibility'. At times the
famib'es were differcutiated by their ownership or nou-uwsership
of draft animals (5th century A,D.). But this system of personal

» 70 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

taxation (tsu system) constantly alternated with variations of
the pure land tax (tu systems).

On the one hand, there was a tax quota on yields (Natural-
quotensteuer) such as was proposed by the minister Shang Yang
for the state of Ch'in (360 b.c.). This quota was considerable,
allegedly from X to of the produce, and it bespeaks the impo¬
tence of the peasant before strong princely prerogatives. Accord¬
ing to the Annals, despite the size of taxes, land cultivation
prospered because the peasant was personally interested in it.
Later we find regularly lower tax quotas (from 1/10 to 1/15 of
the yield).

On the other hand, taxes in land were fixed according to soil
quahty, as was the case under Shang Ti (78 b.c.) and apparently
also during the 4th century a.d. Both times taxes were based on a
rather crude soil classification.

Finally, we meet with money taxes, as, for example, in 766 a.d.
when 15 cKien were charged per mou. Unsatisfactory harvest
yields in 780 necessitated taxes in kind and the tax collectors’ esti¬
mates of their cash value led to endless abuses. But authorities
repeatedly turned to these experiments after having failed to
estabhsh a money economy. Obviously such attempts were made
in order to establish an efficient army, i.e., an army of mercenaries.
The form of taxation changed when under the usurper Heu tung,
taxes in land were "sold back” to the taxable subjects. One can
imagine the resultl While the Sung dynasty sought to estabhsh
one in 960 a.d., the absence of a rehable bureaucracy of tax col¬
lectors was most important. Pao Chi’s memorial of 987 painted in
somber colors the mass flight of the tax payers and Wang An-shih’s
attempted registration of land (1072 a.d. ) under Emperor Shen
Tsung could not be executed. By the end of this regime estimates
had not been made of some 70 percent of the land. The budget of
1077® showed that money income had increased over income in
land but it was still a far cry from pecuniary accounting. The
paper money of the 13th century and the debasement of coinage
under Shang Ti (1st century a.d.) again caused collapse and
reversion to taxation in kind. Only under the Ming do we find a

ADMINlSTIlATlOrf AND RURAL STRUCTUKK » 71 €

considerable aniount of silver along with a large receipt of grain
and a morierate amount of silk.

Pacification under ttie Mancfius^partly a result of the Mongols
being domesticated by Duddhism—together with the tax quctlas
of nifi’ZS caused a tax decrease. During the first half of the 19tb
century the tax was fixed ot a moderate one tenth of the produce.
Tlw last vestiges of “duly to the land" and control of cultivation
were thus eliminated. Imperial edicts of recent decades have for¬
bidden holding liable for ta.\es the beads of groupings of ten.*®

In the two thousand years following Shfii Huang Ti, obligatory
tillago has not been mere theory. Occasionally it has been tangible
rejilih.' for all "fi/rg," that is for all able-bodied Workers subject to
the C0rv6c. The same was true for the sib communities and their
siib-grotips of ten who were juintly msponstble for the ccirv^
and for tax payments. Quite real also was the fbted maximum Size
of land holdings and the right of resettlement. Since taxes and
coivees were charged to families,^* fiscal authorities favored and
even compelled the division of fauiilies in order to madmizc the
number of taxable units. This became usual because it was ex¬
tremely difficult to establish systematie laud measuremeuL family
division may have considerably influenced the emergeuce of the
small holding which was typically Chinese, but from a soclaf poiut
of view this influeucc was limited.

While all this handicapped the rise of large uuitx of producboii,
die facto it promoted coh^ioti among the old landowning peasant
sibs who claimed usufruct rights when the emiieror claimed land
regalia. The sibs** were actually the carl res of the tax liability
associatious.^* Attempted equalization of property—in tlic sense of
the principle-failed because the administration lacked

efficient means of enforcement. The "state socialist” txpiiriments
of the 11th eenhiiy as well as those of some later rulers were
stdely motivated by fiscal considcratious. They obviously left an
intense aversion toward each and every Interfeienuc by central
autlinrities, In this the local prebendaries of office agreed with
other strata of the populutJnn. Ftir instance, during the lOth cen¬
tury tlie centra! goa'errunent demanded that it have at its disposal

» 72 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

not fixed amounts but all surpluses of corvees and taxes above tbe
local requirements, but this was enforced only temporarily and
by imusually energetic emperors. The measure thus gradually fell
into abeyance and, as mentioned, was finally abandoned under
the Manchu.

Some aspects of this agrarian and fiscal policy may be empha¬
sized in order to round out the picture.

Silk cultivation for the court and export trade and “wet,” i.e.,
irrigated, rice cultivation occupied a special place in the agrarian
economy. Silk was an ancient element of garden culture and of
domestic industry. According to the Annals, during the 5th cen¬
tury A.D., the cultivation of silk and fruit was imposed on the
peasants' households according to land allotments.

The land allotment may be considered the actual or at least the
original basis of the so-called “well system.” Among Chinese
au&ors the well system enjoyed quasi-classical status as a genu¬
inely national system of land distribution.^^ The basic unit con¬
sisted of a square field divided into nine parts by tripartitioning
the sides. The centre part had to be cultivated by the eight sur¬
rounding holders for the state, possibly for the landlord. The
universal diffusion of the system is inconceivable for, apart from
intrinsic improbabihties, it would contradict the data of the An¬
nals concerning the history of land ownership. The abohtion of
the well system under the Ch'in dynasty in the 4th century a.d.
is probably identical with the substitution of taxes for the general
system of the “king's field,” and for the admittedly unsuccessful
“restoration of the well system.” It has been confirmed that the
well system was localized. While undoubtedly it was essential for
the irrigation of rice fields, it has only occasionally been trans¬
ferred to ploughland and, in any case, it was not the historically
basic institution of rural China that has sometimes been assumed.
It was simply a form of the old kung-fien principle (royal land)
occasionally applied to wet rice culture.

While agrarian institutions have changed, the imperial grants
and enfeoffed estates have occupied a special legal position. Usu¬
ally they were renewed for life if qualified descendants assumed

ADMINISTRATION AND RURAL STRUCTURE » 73 Mi

the obligations. Evidently they were partly prebends intended to
provide sustenance for the trusted warrior, perhaps for his retire¬
ment at the age of sixty as in the case of the Japanese inkyo. These
mihtary fiefs, graded by class of warrior, appeared especially after
the 1st century a.d. and from the 7th to the 9th century; they
played their role up to the time of the Ming dynasty. Only the
Manchu allowed them to fall into abeyance, or rather, replaced
them by their banner fiefs. Similarly, at varying times, land grants
were made to officials in heu of payment in kind, especially with
the decline of the magazine system which had been its basis.
These were partly small plebeian fiefs and were charged with
hturgies of all sorts: corvees for water regulation, bridge and
road construction like the lex agraria of Antiquity (111 b.c.) and
of the Middle Ages. In China, such properties were re-estabhshed
as late as the 18th centiuy.^®

After the so-called introduction of “private property” by Shih
Huang Ti, the most varied changes in land distribution can be
observed. Periods of great internal unrest have always known the
rise of large landlordism. It was the result of voluntary commenda¬
tion and the subjection and preemption of impoverished and
defenseless peasants. The idea of defining maximal holdings nat¬
urally tied the peasant again to the clod, or rather to the joint
hability association. Formally these interventions were determined
simply by fiscal and corvee interests. Thus, after some earlier
beginnings, the Eastern Chin dynasty during the 4th century
proclaimed a public land monopoly. The reports reveal that the
decisive intention was to facihtate general regulation of the
corvee.

In the warring kingdoms of the 3rd century the idea emerged
of equal “soul” shares for all those from 15-60 years of age, with
annual redistribution of land. At that time the rather crude system
of combining the land tax with a head tax for every fing soul—
at first simply from every holding—had led to quite unsatisfactory
results.

In 485 A.D., and again under the T ang during the 7th century,
there appeared in various “social pohcies” (in theory!) the idea

■ 74 tt

THE ItELlCmK OF CHINA

of pnjviding houses for the aged, for war veterans, and

simflai groups. Tlius, hereditary and transferable holdings, like
tbo 'cuiiimons acreage" In Badeoia or pjopertiev determined by
rank, could be variously oomhined. In 024, the State of T’ang
pemiitted basic hulding;; of a certain size to be hereditary and
granted additional land according lo sha of family. Grain levies
and corv^es were based im the established tas unit; sometimes
these were cumulative, sometimes alternate.

At the heginning of the Hth century the land holdings were
classified by rank and, in case of land scarcity, resettlement was
permitted. At the time much land was available lor settlement in
the north and this accounts for the at least temporary possibility
of executing the poiic)'. In esse of resettlement or of available -
Su^luS land over and above the noun, free laud sales were per¬
mitted if the sib had refused its preempiion. Otherwise free sales
were permitted only were there "genuine need,'* such os lack of
funds to meet burial expenses. Actually land was soon quite freely
transferred, and thus the attempt to establish equality in land
holdings miscarried. This lufcinne especially the case when the
new tax system of 780 caused the adiiiliiististion to lose interest in
the subject's ability to render military and Other compulsory
services.

AH of these measures, as noted, were connected with lisisil and
mill buy requirements. Once the administration failed in its policy
of pioleeting the peasants by equalizing land holdings, it only
Intervened in the accumulntiOD of tenancy rents. The prohibition
of corvees for private benefit, especially messenger sendoe and
the compolsory supply of relays, had, however, to be repeatedly
emphasized during the lOdi cenUiry, The corvec-esempt officials
exploited this opportunity' for enriching themselves witli land.
Therefore, in 1022 maximal landholdings were set for officials and,
according to the Annals, landowncrship was unusual Iv precarious
because of such iuteiferenoes. Moreover, liturgical chargES on
land strongly discouraged land improvement.

The "lltu^ state” was always threatened by financial am]

ADMINISTRATJON AND RURAL STRUCTURE » 75 ^

[nilltaiy f^uru. TLlt^c dlfBculUes KtiiniilatiL^ uiMiy attempts
at land reform. The famous edict of Wang An-shi in the 11th
century^ prluiarily oncDtcd toward iiLiljtar}i' hoaiice, provides au
example. Let us consider the reform in its setting.

2, Army Or^nnizaiion and Warig
An-snih^s Attempt at Reform

THROUGH disarmamentt as lie repoatodly anuouiiL-cd m hi^^
edictsj Emperor Shih Huang Ti sought permanent pacification of
the country. Tradltifirj maiiitajus that the officials collected weap¬
ons in the 36 districts formed for that purpose and that the
wea[>oiis were niclted into hells. The frontier forttiicatiorts, how¬
ever^ had to be manned. Therefnre, the pupiilaticjn was regi¬
mented for service-theoretic^Uy for one year-at border set¬
tlements and for w^l^k on imperial coiistnicLiou. Tfius, the
establishment of the unified empire was accompanied by a tre¬
mendous increase in ctinsiruction work by the Ch ilian population.
Yet dvil wars were chronip, for the army remained essentially a
professional army of praetorian guards. Under the Han dynasty^
therefore, the attempt w^as made to replace, or at least supplement^
the professinnal army by conscription. Everyone 2S years of age
was to serv'O for one year in the standing army and

tiicij for two years bi Lbe militia (chai huang diih). Exercises in
archery, riding, and charioteering were planned for men up to 55 h
T lie annual enrvee was to last one month; hiring of substitutes
was permissible*

To what Kxieiit tticse plans to organiie a gigantic military
force were ever realized is q^le^'t^^mab^e. In any case, during the
6di cciiiur)^ A.D. the corvee ^vas heavy. Offieffilly^ one worker per
family was annually called to serve after the harvest for one io
three decades. Added to this were mancHnivTus and fmntier service
hi tlic Far West. Because the latter rent families asunder for
years, it was espc^cially bewndut! in Cliiucsc poetry. During the
land "rcfonir of the T"ang, servitude was extended upward and

»76 *

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

might last five decades for tax exempt persons. It has been alleged
that, on occasion, over a miUion men were drafted for construc¬
tion work on the great rivers. There was, ofiBciaUy, a universal
draft for the militia, but this evidently remained a dead letter and
prevented the development of a technically efiBcient army. Under
the Sung dynasty there was a standing guard as well as two local
troop formations and militias, but after being unified, they disinte¬
grated. At that time the recruits for the “guards” were impressed
and, at least in some provinces, were branded as they were in the
Middle East in 1042. The nucleus of the army, as all available
reports show, was composed exclusively of mercenaries whose
reliabihty, always doubtful, depended mainly on regular pay.

In 1049, the chronic financial emergency required a reduction
of the army at a time when the barbarians of the North West
threatened to raid the empire. Wang An-shih then tried to intro¬
duce rational reform as a means of raising an adequate and eflS-
cient national army. His attempted reform has been called “state
socialism.” The term is properly applicable only in the narrow
if not quite identical sense in which it has been used for the
monopolistic banking and grain storage policy of the Ptolemies,
although the latter was based on a highly developed money
economy.

Actually*® the central authorities sought to plan the subsidiza¬
tion and regulation of grain production, and to monopolize and
systematically organize grain sales by substituting money taxes for
servitudes and taxes in land (the cfiien-shui-fa system). Thus it
was hoped that money taxes could be raised in order to establish
a large, disciplined, and trained national army which would be
ready unconditionally to serve the Emperor. Theoretically one of
every two adults was subject to the draft. Census registration was
introduced and the system of groups of ten (pao chia fa) was re¬
newed. The groups were headed by elected elders who were to
dehver reprimands and take turns at night watches. Moreover,
arms (bows) were to be distributed by the state to draftees who
were assigned to the local militia. The state was also to purchase

ADMINISTRATION AND RURAL STRUCTURE » 77 €

horses and place them at the disposal of drafted horsemen who
were held responsible for them. The horsemen were subject to
annual review and possibly entitled to premium pay.

Formerly, the state magazines were supplied through levies in
kind and hturgically administered by the propertied. This was
ruinous to them and led to every conceivable squeeze-play. Now
the magazines were to be managed by paid o£Bcials and their
pecuniary operation was systematically to implement the develop¬
ment of the money economy. The administration distributed
grain seed on credit {cKing miao, i.e., “green seeds”), and other
credit in kind or in money, at 20 percent interest. Landed property
was to be revalued and reclassified. Land tax, corvee (mo-chi),
and per capita allotment were to be determined by classes. Money
payment was to be substituted for corv4e and laborers were to be
hired by means of money taxes.

Apart from the introduction of money taxes, the monopoly of
the grain trade was the central point of reform proposals, which
were subsequently often renewed. The government was to buy
grain cheaply at harvest time, store it, and distribute credit from
these stores. Moreover, the government was expected to make
speculative profits. An administrative body of expert officials,
especially trained jurists, was supposed to implement the reform,
which included the drafting and presentation of annual budgets
by all local authorities. In this way, a central and unified admin¬
istration of finance was to be facilitated.

Wang An-shih's Confucian opponents criticized 1. the militarist
nature of the system; 2. the arming of the people, which they
thought might provoke rebelhon and endanger the official author¬
ities; 3. the elimination of trade, which would jeopardize the tax
capacity; 4. and above all, the Emperor s grain usury, the seed
credits at interest,^*^ and the experiments in money taxation.

Wang An-shih’s reforms failed completely in the decisive point
of army organization. From analogy it may be said that this was
undoubtedly due to the absence of an indispensable staiBF, and
due to the fact that the country's economic organization made

TUE REMcioN oy c;hixa

the prompt coUecUon of mnney taws impossible. The canoniza¬
tion of Wang An-shih and the sacnhceii inaugurated after his
death In lOSti were revoked in the i2th century. By tlie end of
the lltli Dt:i]h.TTy the bulk of the army was again comprised of
mercfinaries. The literati knew how to sabotage the cstablish-
ment of expert ofiicialctom for their preheiiElal interests were at
slake, and these interests were the decisive force in tlie whole
struggle for aiitl against the ref oim. The enijinfsxeK, whose eunuchs
saw their power jeopanlLrcd by such a new order, opposed the
reforni from the beginning.^*

While Wang An-shih's reform failed at that decisive point, ft
apparently left deep tnees on the Chiuese system of "sclf-govem-
inent. Through the latiOnaJization of the mitch-meutinnetl groups
of ten and a hundred a stnictune was presereed the inGuence of
wliid) is felt to this day.

Later govemmeiils repeatedly interfered with land distribution.
During the struggle against the Mongols, in 1363, tlie govermnent
raised fiinds by expropriating all landholdings in excess of 100
mou for government Irands. In later periuds occasional crmfisca-
tions led to great increases of state property. When the Ming
dynasty rose to power in Chekiang one £1 tc«nfh of the Imid was
supposedly private property.

The system of state magazines per se (isvn sbu) was old*® and
quite impurtant even before Waug An-shih’s plmis. Since the ISlb
century it has awiuired its pennancul foma of opera hnn: grain
purcha.scs in fall and winter and sales In spring and summer in-
creastngly served as mea.sures of price control and as a basis for
maiiiteiiiiiig internal peace. Originally, the government pureliased
not voluntary but forced dclivieries. The quota requirements on
the W^est, which were credited as tax payTiiciil, romitdly oscil¬
lated around one-half of tlie yield. The tax rates fluctuated widely
hetwecQ ViB and of the yield; as noted, a very low quota was
tlie normal tax rate under the Han limperors. .Additional servi¬
tude, however, has to be token into ccmsideratioii and it would be
piintiess to moke a detailed analysis of tax rates Since tiiey do not
represent the achLR] tax burdens.

ADMINISTRATION AND RURAL STRUCTURE > 79 €

3. The Fiscal Protection of
Peasants and Its Results
for Rural Society

THE various attempts at land reform by the state led to two
results: the absence of rational and large scale agricultural enter¬
prise, and the intensely suspicious aversion of the entire peasantry
toward any governmental interference in landownership and land
utihzation. The laissez-faire theories of many Chinese cameralists
enjoyed increasing popularity among the rural population. Of
course, pohtical measures for the control of consumption and
dearth were necessarily retained. For the rest, only the policy of
governmental protection of the peasants found support with the
people, since this worked against capitahst accumulation, i.e., the
conversion into landed weith of profits from oflSce holding, tax
fanning, and trade. This mood alone made possible the legislation
—we have discussed it in part—which cut deeply into the property
of the wealthy. It originated in the struggle of the autocratic
government against the vassals and the noble sibs who, originally,
were alone fully qualified for military service. Later, legislation
repeatedly opposed the capitalistic resurgence of landlordism.

As shown above, the type of interference changed greatly. The
Annals report for the state of Ch’in-® (from which the “First
Emperor” Shih Huang Ti set out) that during Hsiao Kung’s reign
(361-338) the scholar Wei Yang, his minister, taught him as the
“highest wisdom” the art of “how to become master of his vassals.”
Land distribution and reform of the tax system stood in the fore¬
ground, directed particularly toward the substitution of the gen¬
eral land tax for the tillage corvee. The measures entailed family
registration, the compulsory division of family communes, tax
premiums for forming a family, corvee exemption for intensive
production, and the renunciation of private revenge. They were
typical means for fighting the rise and establishment of landlord¬
ism; Ukewise they indicate how population policy was typically
bound to fiscal pohcy. As we have noticed, legislation wavered.
The government alternately freed the peasants or handed them

* 80 *

THE RELK^ION OF CHINA

to tho landlords by restricting their mobility and permitting
liiclr commendation into servitude. On the whole, tlie tendency
to protect the peasantry prevailed.

Under the Wei dynasty in 4S5 a-d. the government, obviously
for populationist reasons, permitted the sale of surplus land.
The ihjuactioa against traffic in land and, especially iu 653 a.o.,
the injunction forbidding land purchases by thn wealthy were
designed to protect the peasautiy. This was likewise the aim o!
the iDjunetion against land sales and the enjotoder (iu 1205 ajj.)
to stay on the land as the buyers bondsmaii.=‘’‘ The latter two
provisions certainly allow us to infer that alienable private ptO|>
erty in land existed at the time of the reform legislation and even
long before, according to other reports. The aim of such provisions
was to forestall developments which have frequently ixxurred
elsewhere, particularly in the early HeUenio polis. In Athens, e.g.,
moneyed wealth, accumulated in trade or in politics, sought in¬
vestment opportiiiiities in land. Hiis was done by buying out the
indebted peasants and exploiting them as indebted serfs, tcuauts,
or bondsmen on the small holdings which had betm bought up.

Enough of these monotonous repetitious which are not intended
as a depiotion of ''econoiuic; bistDiy," So far, the decisive data on
prices, wages, etc., are absent. From the above, the precarious
nature of landownership is apparent through long centuries, that
is, for one and one bilf thousand years. The largely irradonal
conditions of landowncrship were due to fiscol policies which
alternated between arbitraTy interventiou and complete laissea-
faire. Tlie literati rejected legal codification with the characteristic
argument that the people would be contemptuous cjf the ruling
classes if they knew their rights. Under sudi oondiaons, imdutain-
ing the sib as an association for self-help was the only way out.

The contemporaiy Chinese law of real property, therefore,
contains traces of the earliest Stnicturc along with apparently
modern features,- Land transfer by mere transfer of document
has been greatly facilitated through general land registmtion, and
the rcquiremeat-continually faJtoring in the face of popular ob-
stniction-of a fee and seal (shau ch’O for every document of sale.

AJ>M1N1STRAT1DSI A^O RURAL STRUCTURE i Si *

Similarly^ the possession of titles of piirdiasL% copies of the land
register^ and receipts (or tax payment have come to be considered
pmperty certificates* Every' document of sale (mai cfii) cxrnfeins
the clause that the proptn+y is sold ”in consequence of a real need
for money and for a legitimate pujpose.“ Today this clause is an
empty fomiula. In councction^ hnwever, with the aforementioned
explicit provision of 485 we may certimily eoudude that
originally sales were pcnniltcd only in cases of ”real need-** While
no\^'adays there is a purely forma! preemption right of relatives
accompanying this measure^ m former days this right was un¬
doubtedly obligatory. Moreover^ suciti Tisagc is confiiiTied by the
fact that eif'en today it is an “abnse" to demand, in distress, that
the buyer^ and under certein conditions Lis descendants^ mako
one nr several later payments as “charity"^* or ^<ifi eh"t phiffcf dc
g^ninaric^"),^*

In Chinap as in the ancient occidental poUs^ the typical land
buyer was the creditor and man of moneyed wealth. However,
originally, landowiiership was to the sib by right of retrac¬
tion. The truly national form of alienation, therefore, was not the
imcfinditional and peTmaneTit sale but rather the sale ulth reser¬
vation of the right to repurchase (k$iao mai)—^ universally dif¬
fused emcrgfmcy transarrtiim—nr eUe the hereditaiy' lease. For the
t'ien mien, the owner of the surface was obviously the hereditary
tenant in contrast to tliK t'ien fi, tlie liindownpr. The ffnli-cresls
(fien tang) usually applied to rural properties; the mortgage, ti tja,
only to urban real estate*

All Other aspects of agrarian institutions pomt in the same
directinu. For instance* the old sib, bnimd to tlie lands, struggled
against the moneyed power of kiid buyers^ and the patrlirtcmial
HQthoritit^s intervened as mfKlEratcirK out of essfentially fiscal in¬
terests. The official terminology of the Shih Cfefng and the Annals
of tlie Hail dynasty—like Roman law'—distinguish only private
and public property, public tenants on royal land and tax payers
on private laud {peoples land mien ti). The indivisible and in-
aKonable ancestral land (for tombs and ancestral sacrifiecs) re¬
mained family propertyThe oldest son of the chief wife and

» 82 * THE nELIGION OF CHINA

his de-scKTidiints suLL^^-deii as testators. After the victnry of
momalisin, however^ the estate, mcliididg the land, became legally
subject to real divisiou among all children. Provisiorus of the tes¬
tator were considered mere ethical obligations;, “entailed
tatates'* in tlie proper sense of the term. Ulrimatcly, the forms of
tenancy were share cro[}plng. rents in Idnd^ and tnoney rents.

The tenant could secure himself against tlm ownt^r's imtice by
giving bail. The usual tenancy contracts indicate"* that the tenant
was thought of as coloxtus in the sense of the ancient and South
European tenant fanner of a small holding. Along with the right,
he assumed die obligation to til] the land and. as a rule, the lessee
remained indebted to the les.'iur, A big kiiidlurd who exphpited
his scaittered holdings by leasing them was the tj^ical lessor.
Lpandlordism of sib cfimmunities was especially fieqiicot. Such
sibs inherited and acquired numerous small scattered holdings,
the docTunentif pertaining to which they preserved and regis¬
tered-"^ in special files and inveiitnrj' books, Tlie land register
listed the holdings under a special common name as if design*
Hating a common firm for all lioldiiig^.^® It was the same naniH
wliich was posted on a tablet in the family ball Through its elder
the family niletl the £.- 0/0111 with the touc and patriorchiLni man¬
ner of the ancient or South European landlord or the English
squire^ As usual^ the great old families and the wealthy parvenu jj
of trade and politics firmly prtiserved thc^ir wealth and hereditary
position ill familial conirnunities. Clearly, this form was die eco¬
nomic substitute For the privileged stains [Kisition of the old
nobihly which patrimomahsm had shattered.

Landlordism, quile extensive in some places, uiiftirtiinately can¬
not be statistically evaluated.*^ Only part of it has a long histojy
and, in any i^ose, it largely consisted of scattered hnidings. Never¬
theless, landlordism has existed until now and presumably was
even more ejcteosive in former days. Associated with it was the
typical cokmris nf the patrimonia] state. The landlord's power
was strongly curbed by tivo peculiarly Chinese circumsianciis:
the power of llie sib {to bc discussed presently). and the impo¬
tence and extensiveness of the civil and legal administration. If

ADMINISTRATION AND RURAL STRUCTURE » S3 «

a mtliless landJord wisht^cl to use his power he had slight chartce
Ilf seeing his legal claim promptly enforced unless he had per¬
sonal eoitneetions or cotild purclmse administrative Coercion by
way of costly bribes. But when the shite effidal attemptEd to
squeeze gronnd rent uiit of thfi tenant for the landlord he bad
to be as considerate as if he were squeezing tioes for himself.
For all soeial unrest wa^ ctinsidemii symptomatic of magical evil
which might cost the local ofBcial hts office if it ln^stirred the
central authorities. Some highly charactcristie usages of land¬
lords show Llial this .situation precluded the intensive e.xplDjtation
of the co/onf, "iTie intensive worfc^^ and the oL-cmumic superiority
of tlie small hnhier were patently expressed in immeuse laud
values*^ and the relatively low iuteresat rate for agricultural
credit^ Technological improvements were almost niled out by
the extensive partitioning of lantl; tradition held sivay despite a
dtjvdoped money economy.

The etpjiilitariau levelling tendency corresponded to patrimo¬
nial bureaucratizattOD. AgrieuJturaJ ptixluetiou based on intensive
rice eulHvatiou remained almost entirely in the hands of small
peasants^ and industrial produelion in ili« hands of the artban,

lu tiu 2 long nm the hereditary partitioning of land greatly
democratized landowncrship^ although hi imli^'idual cases the
process wax slowi^d down by joint inheritance- A holding of a few
acres was regarded as sizeable. A holding of less tlian rivo and
one half acre^ (IS nuju— 85 wr) was considered Sufficient to
provide sustenance for five persons even without ganluniug.

The fifiulal filemeuts of the sticial order were, at least legally,
divested of their status position. Even recent official reports al¬
ways lufuitiiiu rural *‘uolabIcs” as tho siidaliy dominant stratum.
But diis rural "^gentry** of village notables did not liave a state-
guaranteed position \'is-ii-vi3 the lower strata. By law^ the patri¬
monial buruaucratlc machine stood directly over pet^* burgher
and small peasatiL The feudal stratum which znediatL'd during
tlie occidentBl Middle Ages ^vas ncm-i'Kistent rk jure and de faato.
Only recent times and European idiluenoe have brought about
capitalist conditions in their tj-pically occidental fonUn Why?

CHAPTER IV

SELF-GOVERNMENT, LAW,
AND CAPITALISM

D.

J. Absence of Capitalist Relationships

^URiNG the Period of the Warring Kingdoms and their
contest for pohtical power, there was a capitalism of money¬
lenders and purveyors which was politically determined and ap¬
parently very significant. High rates of profit seem to have been
the rule. In China, as in other patrimonial states, this type of capi¬
talism was customary. In addition to transactions which were
politically determined, mining and trade are mentioned as sources
for the accumulation of wealth. Multimillionaires (on a copper
standard) are said to have existed under the Han dynasty. VV^en
China was politically unified into a world empire like the unified
orbis terrarum of Imperial Rome, the result was an obvious retro¬
gression of this capitalism, essentially linked to competition be¬
tween states. On the other hand, the development of pure market
capitalism, seeking free trading opportunities, was only rudimen¬
tary. Within industry the merchant obviously was in a position
superior to the technician. This applied also to the cooperative
forms of enterprise to be discussed shortly. The predominance
of the merchant is clearly shown in the way profit was usually
distributed within associations. Often inter-local industries also
yielded considerable speculative gains. Even during the first cen¬
tury B.C., the old and classical esteem for the truly sacred vocation
of agriculture did not prevent that profit opportunities were

» 84 <

SELF-GOVERNMENT, LAW, AND CAPITALISM » 85 «r

judged to be greater in industry and greatest in trade. (From
Talmudic references, it may be inferred that a similar develop-^
ment occurred in the Middle East.)

Such forms of capitalist pursuits, however, were not a point of
departure for modem capitalism. To this very day, the institu¬
tions characteristically developed by the flourishing burghers of
the Medieval cities are either entirely lacking in China or they
typically display a different physiognomy. The legal forms and
societal foundations for capitalist “enterprise” were absent in the
Chinese economy. There was no rational depersonalization of
business comparable to its unmistakable beginnings in the com¬
mercial law of the Italian cities. In early Chinese history a point
of departure for the possible development of personal credit was
the joint liability of the sib. This survived in tax law and in the
law of political crime but developed no further. To be sure,
among the propertied strata, there were associations of heirs
organized as household partnerships for the joint pursuit of profit.
Such associations played a role like that of the family associations
from which our occidental “trading company” later emerged (at
least in Italy). In China, however, the economic meaning was
characteristically different. As is usual with patrimonial states, he
who was formally an oflBcial, and actually a tax farmer, had the
best opportunities to accumulate wealth. For example, the
“hoppo,” i.e., the supervisor and holder of the customs at Canton,,
was famous for his exploitation of tremendous profit opportuni¬
ties. The income of his first year, 200,000 taels, went for the pur¬
chase of his office; that of the second for “gifts”; and that of the
third and last year, the “fmppo” kept for himself (according to
the account of the North China Herald).

Retired officials invested their fortunes, more or less legally
acquired, in landholdings. The sons, in order to preserve their
wealth and influence, remained in hereditary partnership as co¬
heirs and, in turn, raised the means enabling some members of
the family to study. Since these members had the opportunity of
entering remunerative offices, they, in turn, were usually expected
to enrich the co-heirs and provide sib members with public offices..

THK HELlGlON OF CHINA

« 88 €

Tfau5^ through political acjcumolation of proptaly, there had
devdoped a !itratiiii:t of land inagDates who leased lots. This
(dbeit unstable) pah'iciate bore neither a feudal iior a bourgeois
stamp, but specubted iu opportunities for the purt^ly political
exploitatiiin of cifiicu. As Ls ^aiacteristic of patrimonial states^
the accumulation of wealth, and especially landed wealth, was
Dtjt pnuiarlLy a matter of rational profit-making. In addition to
tradop a system of internal booty capitEdLsiii prevailed which also
led to the investment of money in land. For, as noted above, the
officials made thoir furlunes by jobbing tax prcniiuma, tliat Ls, by
arbitrarily defining the exchange rate of the currency in which
the lux obligations bad to be calculated, KxaniiuatiDa degrees
also constitute4l a claim to flic fet^d from this trough. Accordingly,
the examinations were al^vays distributed, anew among the prov-
inccjii, djuugh it was exeeptionai to restrict Lhem to a fixed rguota.
llxus^ cessation of examinations in a district was a most effective
ceoiiomlc sanction for the ranking famities coneemed. It is elcar
that this sort of accjiiisitive familial Ltunmiiiiity pointed in a direc-
Koa opposite to the development of rational economJe corporate
enterprisesp Above alh this eonununity was ijuld together by rigid
Jdnsbfp bonds. This hrijigs us to the discnissJon of the significance
of the sib associations.

2, The Sib Assoaiutipn

THE sib, which in the occidental Middle Ages was practically
cxtiiiet, iu ChJna was couipleLety presurved in the administratiori
of the smallest poHrtca] units as w*ell os in the operation of eco-
numie assooatiojis, Mureover, the sib developed to OU extent
unknown elsewhere-even in Indian The patriinOidal rule from
above clashed with the sibs^ stmug eouutorhabince from below.
To the present day, a considerable proportiou of all pulitLoilly
dangerous ‘^secret societies** has consist^ of sibs.^ The villages
vrere often named after die sib“ which was exclusively or pre¬
dominantly represented in the village. At limes the village
societies were confedcraLious of sibs. The old boundary uiarks

SF.l.F-GOVEHKMENT, LAW, ANH CAPITALISM » S7 »

indicate that the land was not allotted to individuals but to sihs.
The eobcsiveiifisfi of the sibs was importmit m msiintaining this
oemdition.

*rhe \illage head-oFten a salaried man—was elected fn>Tn the
sib most powerful numerically. "Eldcni'’ nf the sib stood beside
him and eJaimed tlie right to depose hUxiH The ludividual sib,
with whidi we must deal first, claimed the right to impose sanc¬
tions on its members and cnforcjtrd this claim^ however little
modem public aiitlmrities officially recognized it. Duly domeKtic
authority and the Jurisdictioii of the imperi:!! sih over its members
were officially recognized.

The cohesion of the sib undoubtedly rested wholly upon the
ancestor cult The sib wiLhxtocid the ruthless encroachments of
tlie patrimonial administration, its mechanically coiLstmcted lia¬
bility assodationsT its resetdejnents, its lanrl nKpartitions, and the
cbssilicatiou of die pipulation in terms of ting, i.e., employable
The ancestor cult was the only folk-cult that was
not managed by die CaeKan.i-papist government and its officials.
Eather, the head of the household, as the hcusc priest, managed it
with the assistance of the family- Undoubtedly It was a classical
and andent folk-cult. Kyrm in the “long house** of archaic militarist
times, ancestral spirits seem to have played a mic. We may
mention in passing diat the cjfiirtence of the "long house" hardly
setfms consistent with true totemism. This suggests tlie proba*
bilit)' that tlic Jong house, the most ancient fonn of organizatioii,
can bo dixluced from the roulinization of hereditary diarisma
of the piinee and his war following.^ How^ever that may be. In
historical times the most fundamental belief of the Chiucsri peuplo
has been to ascribe power to ancestral spirits* not exclusively but
predominantly to the spirits of one's own ancestors.'* Idtual and
literature tesUfy to belief in the ancestral spirits and tn their role
as mediators of, tlit deset^ndant s wishes before the Spirit Or Cod
of Heaven.* Furthennore* it w^s believed absolutely necessary
to safefy the spirits and to win their favor by sacrifices. The
ancestral spirits of the emperors were of almost equal rank with
the foUovfc^ing of tlic FTeavenly SpinL^ A Chinese without male

» 88 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

descendants, indeed, had to resort to adoption and, if he failed
to do so, the family undertook a posthumous and fictitious adop¬
tion on his behalf.'^ This was done less in his interest than in their
own concern to be at rest with his spirit. The social consequences
of these all-pervasive ideas are evident in the enormous support
gained by patriarchal power® and in the reinforcement of sib
cohesion. In Egypt, not the ancestral cult but the cult of the
dead dominated everything, and there sib-cohesion was broken
under the influence of bureaucratization and fiscalism just as it
was broken later in Mesopotamia. In China, the influence of the
sib was maintained and grew to equal the prerogatives of the
overlord.

3 . Organization of the Sib

IN PRINCIPLE, to this very day, every sib has its ancestral hall
in the village.® In addition to paraments of the cult, the temple
often contained a tablet with the “moral codes” recognized by
the sib, for the sib had the unquestionable right to lay down
the law for its members—a right which operated not only
praeter legem but, under certain conditions and even in questions
of ritual, contra legem}^ The sib faced the outside world with
solidarity. Although joint liability did not exist outside of
criminal law, nevertheless the sib was accustomed to settle the
debts of its members whenever possible. With the elder pre¬
siding in the chair, the sib not only meted out lashes and ordered
excommunication (meaning civil death) but, like the Russian
Mir, also decreed punitive exile. The frequently intense need
for consumer loans was essentially met by the sib which morally
bound its propertied members to give succour. To be sure, a
sufiBcient number of kotows also secured a loan to an outsider,
for no one dared draw the wrath of the desperate man’s spirit
upon himself should he commit suicide.^ Nobody seems to have
voluntarily repaid loans, least of all when the debtor knew he
had a strong sib behind him. Nevertheless, only the sib was, by
rule, clearly obliged to aid the needy and to give credit assistance.

SELF-GOVERNMENT, LAW, AND CAPITALISM » 89 «

If need be, the sib conducted feuds against outsiders.^^ Here,
where personal interest and personal ties were at stake, the relent¬
less bravery of the Chinese contrasted most glaringly with the
much vaunted “cowardice” of the governmental army which, after
all, consisted of impressed recruits or mercenaries. Where neces¬
sary, again, the sib provided medicaments, doctors, and burial
services; it cared for the aged and widows, and above all, it pro¬
vided schools.

The sib owned property, especially landed property (ancestral
land, shih fieri )and prosperous sibs often owned extensive
lands in trust. The sib utilized this land by leasing it out (usually
for three years, by auction), but alienation of such land was per¬
missible only with the consent of three-fourths of the sib. The
yield was distributed among the heads of the households. The
typical method of this distribution was to give all men and all
widows one unit each; then from the age of fifty-nine on, two
units; sixty-nine on, three units.

Within the sib a combination of hereditary-charismatic, and
democratic principles prevailed. All married men had equal
franchise; unmarried men had only the right to be heard in
council; women were excluded from the sib councils altogether
as well as from the right of inheritance (they had only dowry
rights). The executive committee consisted of the elders, each
representing a separate lineage within the sib. The elders were,
however, annually elected by a vote of all sib members. The
functions of the elders were to collect revenues, utilize posses¬
sions and distribute income, and most important of all, attend
to the ancestral sacrifices, the ancestral halls, and schools. The
retiring elders nominated candidates for election according to
seniority; in case the oflBce was declined, the next eldest was
presented.

Up to the present, it was common to acquire land jointly
through purchase or lease and to distribute it among the heads
of the households. Mandarins, merchants, or others who definitely
moved off the land received compensation and an abstract from
the family book as a record. They remained subject to the juris-

» 90 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

diction of the sib and could repurchase their claim. Where the
old conditions remained dominant, hereditary land seldom passed
into the hands of strangers.

Because of the home spinning, weaving, and tailoring of the
women, and especially because the women also marketed their
products,an independent textile industry could emerge only on
a modest scale. Head and foot gear were also home-made. The
sib association strongly supported the self-sufficiency of the house¬
holds, thereby delimiting market developments. Socially the sib
meant everything for its members—for those living far from home
and especially for those living in the city.^*^ This is apparent and
important for the following reasons:

First, the sib was the ceremonial unit necessary for those
festivities most important to the individual (especially the semi¬
annual ancestor festivals). It was also the topical unit for the
family history which the housefathers had to write.

Second, hitherto it was considered proper for the sib to lend
capital at low interest rates to apprentices and to wage-earning
artisans without resources, thus enabling them to become “self
employed” artisans.

Third, as already noted, the sib elders elected young men who
were qualified for study and provided for their expenses in¬
curred by preparatory studies, examination, and purchase of
office.

As generally indicated above, the “city” was, therefore never
the “hometown” but typically “a place away from home” for the
majority of its inhabitants. The alien character of the city was
further sharpened by the above-mentioned absence 'of the or¬
ganized self-government found in the village. Without undue
exaggeration, it may be said that Chinese administrative history
is replete with instances of the imperial administration endeavor¬
ing to assert itself beyond the city districts. In this, apart from
compromises over tax levies, the imperial administration suc¬
ceeded only for short periods of time; given the territorial scope
of the administration it could not do so permanently. The exten¬
siveness of administration, i.e., the small number of actual offi-

SELF-COVERNMF.NTj AIVE CAPTTAHSM * 01 t

ciaJs per administrative unit resulted from the state of finances
and that, m turn, deECEtuiued Lhc Guaucial returns.

The official impedal administrabon remained, lu fact, an ad-
mioistration of urban districts and sub-districts. Here, if it wan
amenafalo tfi merchant and craft guilds, the administration oper¬
ated effectively for it did not encounter the [nteusc Iduship tics
of the sibs as it did outside^ Btryniid the city walls the effective¬
ness of administrative authority became narrowly curcumseribed.
For in additiaij to tlin power of dm sibjy, great in itself, tim ad-
mimstration also confronted the organized self-government of the
village. There were also numerous (>easants living in the cities
and, since the latter were merely urban settlements of farmers,
there remamed only a technical adiimustmtivc dill'erenee belwueti
dty and village, A 'city” was th& seat of the mandarin and was
not seU-govertung; a "village" was a self-governing settlement
without a mandarin!

4. Sidf~G<}Vtm7uenl <jf the Vilbtge

IN CHINA, village settlement^® was based upon the need for
secutity which the extensive administration of the empire, lacking
any notion of "police," was unable to meet Originally, and often
even today^ the villages were FtjrtiHed. Nut only were they pro¬
tected by palisades, like the ancient cities, but they were also

frequently siirroiinLlcd by Wiitts. Thu villiigu onipluycd salaried
watchmen, thus rehe\'ing its members of alternate turns of guard
duty.

Occasionally numbering many thousands of residents, the vil¬
lages differed from the ""cities''^' simply in that they took care
of this function through their own firganiv^tinn. The \illage
temple served as a central agency as Chinese law and the
peasant's way of thinldng nafnniily irivi]lvc!d no concept of
"corporation," lii the modem period the village temple^ ^ 1ms
usually been dedicated to any one of ttio |K>piiI]ir deities, to
General Kmn Ti (God of War), Fe Tl (God of Trade), U-^en
C/i>xng (CchI of Scliiwjbi), Lnog Wung (Cod of Rain)^ to 7’'ii Ti

» 92 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

(a non-classical God who had to be notified in case of death
to assure the deceased persons "conduite"* in the beyond); and
to others. The specific dedication of the temple appears to have
been regarded rather indifierently. As in classical antiquity of
the Occident, the “religious” significance of the temple^® was
confined to a few ritual manipulations and occasional prayers of
individuals. For the rest, the significance of the temple lay in
its secular social and legal practices.

Like the ancestral hall the temple held property, especially
real property,^ and frequently also money which it loaned at
rates that were not consistently low.^^ The pecuniary fund
stemmed primarily from traditional market-fees. As is the case
almost everywhere in the world, the market stands had always
been under the protection of the local god. Like the ancestral
land, temple land was leased, preferably to unpropertied vil¬
lagers. Similarly, the coUection of rents from this source and all
revenues of the temple in general were annually allotted to tax
farmers. The profits remaining after deduction of expenses were
distributed.

The administrative positions of the temple seem to have been
mainly occupied and financed by a liturgy of the housefathers
of the village. They took turns from house to house and for this
purpose the village was divided into districts of 100 to 500 in¬
habitants. Alongside these administrators were the “notables” of
the village, the elders of the sibs, and the hterati who received
nominal remuneration. The political administration discouraged
the legahzation of corporations or their agents and recognized
the notables as the sole represenatives of the village. The notables
in turn, however, acted in the name of the “temple” and the
“temple” concluded contracts for the village through them.

The “temple” had jurisdiction over petty causes and very often
usurped jurisdiction over causes of all sorts. The government in¬
tervened only where interests of state were concerned. The temple
court, not the court authorities of the state, enjoyed the confidence
of the people. The “temple” took care of the roads, canals, defense,
safety; it rotated obhgatory guard-duty which, in actuality, was

&l5LF-OOVh:HNM£NT* LAW, AND CAPITALISM » 93 «

mostly bought olFi The temple took etiarge of df^feose against
robbers or neigbiioring ’villagflSp and provided schools, decors,
medicaments^ and burfeJs ixtsofEU^ as the slbs could not or wnnld
not do so. The temple coiitmucd the armory of the village^ The
village legally and actually was capable of acting as a corporate
body through the temple—an iinpossibility for the ^cify-” Actually*
nut the city hut the tillage was the aimed association capable of
defending the interests of those in its orbit.

The government Las not always taken a kii.ssez-faire stand to-
ward this unofBdal seli-goveminent, as was die casu during the
last period of the old regime. Under tlie Han Emperors^ for in¬
stance, the gpvemment sought to abandon the pure [patrimonial
absolutism of !ihih Huang Tf by incthExiically calling on the vil¬
lage elders to assume local go\'emment offices (son ho). They
sought thus to regulate and to legalise die primeval village auton¬
omy.^ The village chief (shou jen) was to be elected and
conBntied and the landowners were to guarantee his good con¬
duct but only iiccasionally did this actually happen. The govern¬
ment again and again ignored the village as a unit, purely fiscal
interest repeatedly ctjming to the fore. Wang An-shih^ especially^
lationalized the system from this point of view, as lias bi?pn
mentioned hi another eonnecdou.

Even tcalay evey ten families constitute a “poo** formally under
a headman^ every hundred fatnilies eoustitutn a *^ekur under a
"piio chidT who usually is called **ti pao*"* At every house in village
and city a placard has to be posted^ and where tradition is aUve,
is actually posted which states the house number, the chm^ the
pfli, the Owmer, the name uf the family head, the natlvit)' of the
fiiinily (its denizenship), which lists the family members, the
tenants and their uocupations, absent family members (if su for
liEjw long?)^ the rent and tax liability, the numlier of rooms used
and sublet

The pw ckh was officially responsible for fhe pohciitg and
survcILknce of criminals and secret societies. The duties of Im¬
perial religious police were not tlie ieaiit of his responsibilities.
This agent (ti pan) was meant to coristltute the link between self-

THE HF.LTniOK OF

govt^mmeut and public antlitiritiiis, WijLTe and when ihe system
functioned well he W'ould usually spend some time at the hsien
mngistrate^s tjffiee to Impart InfDiiJiution. In modern times, how-
m-'er, all this has become quite formal; frequently—acci>rding hi
Chinese authors apparently as a rule—the ii pao's office has simply
changed into an undas^icah hence less prefojxed govirnmiLrnt
position.

Tlie forces wliich the state liad In take practically jnto account
were the sib elders behind the \^Ilage adminJstmtfon who might
funcLioii as a sort of vchmo and, in conllicL, Trught he dangernics.

For all this peasant life in a Chinese village should by no means
be imagined as a harmonious, patrarducal idyll. The individuat
peasant wajs frequently threatened by feuds outside the viUage,
Moreover, the power of the sib and the administration of the vil¬
lage temple all too frequently foiled to protect efficiently prop¬
erty, especially that of the ivealthy. The solvent peasants (/dO &hth
as they were called) were typically at the mercy of the arbitrary
tw/ing him or the kuhki {fists as one would say in Russian
peasant terminology, Dut they were not exposed to the dfimina-
tion of the ”villaga bourgeoisie,'' of usurers nnd tbeir hr teres ted
affiliates, as were the kulaki in Russia. Against these, tlie Chinese
peasant would easily bxtve found bux^lau and divine assistaoro.
Rather, Lhe jieosant was expensed to the non-properUed villagers^
organized by the kuang kun^ thus the bjednata^ the 'Village jioor''
in the tcmimology of BolslievisTn which^ in this respectT might be
attractive in China. Against this organization every indivnlual
and even groups of large owners weru often completely unpro¬
tected and powerless.-^ And if, cliidng the hst centuries, larger
estates in China have been exceptional, tlie Hbfwe circumstances
have contributed. Their paucity has been due to a sort of cthieal
:ind naive peasant Bolshesnsm strongly tempered by the pjwer
of die sibs and to ihti abstenc!e cif state sanctions guarajitceiiig
property.

Below the level of die district, svhicli after all ivas about
the ^7^. of an English county^ there were only those gnvf^ming
agents who were, ofBcfally, honoriHc office holders and, actually^

SELF-GOVEIlNMENr^ LAW, AND CAPITALISM » 95 €

often But vujy freijUfsntJy ocjmniitte&s hinctiDDed diojag-

side the official admuiistratioa of the dlstricbi right up to the
level of the provinee. Officially the committees were appotated
or ''delugated*' aiitharity for a three^yeax term and were subjcet
to recall at any Uuie. At:bially, diey held their positions throxigh
recognized or usurped charisma aud they “gave advioe'^'= iu
the officials. We sh^ not be eoncerued here with {he structure
of these bodieSn

5 , Sib Fetters of the Economy

IT VVAS neeessajy to reach agreement with this body, a finnly
cohesive stratum of village notables, whenever any tdiange what¬
soever was to be introduced^ for mstance raising the traditjonal
taxes. Otherwbe the state official was Just as certain of nice ting
stubborn resistonee sxs were the landlord^ les.'iEir, employer^ and
in general any “superior” outside of the sib- The Sib Stood as one
iTKku in ,support of any member who felt discriiulnatcd against®*
and the joint rcsistaiice of the sib^ naturally^ was incomparably
more efflcacfotis than a strite by a freely formed trade imlun in
the Occident. In tlib fact alone^ “work dfscipliiie^ and the free
market selection of labor which have eharacterii^d mo;lem large
enterprise have been thwarted in China. And this h as been true
of all rational administration along oecidental Hurk. The strongest
eounterweight hi ufficiak echicated in literature was a-litorate old
age per se. No matter how many cKaminutionK the official had
passed, he bid to obey unconditionally the eompletely unedu¬
cated sib elder m the traditionally fkt^d affairs of the sib

In practical terms^ a considerable measure of iismrpRd and con¬
ceded seif-govcnimciit fact^d thp patrlmoniai bureaucracy. On
the line hand^ there ivere the sibs and on die etiier hand^ the
organizations of the village poor. Tlie rationalism of the bureauc¬
racy w-as confronted with a resolute and traditionalistic power
which, on the whole ami in tlie long ruu^ was stronger because
it opemteci continuously and was supported by the most intimate
personal ossociatioiis. Moreoverp any innovation could call forth

w96 *

THtJ BELICION OF CHINA

[[i:igic evils. Above all, Bscal innovatious were suspecf anH met
with sbaip resistance. No peiuiuit would hav’e chanced upon the
idea of “diiiinteTesled'’ motives and in this he was quite similar
to the Husshm peasants m ToIst(iy'‘s ResNiwctfon. Besides, the
influence of the slh elders i,vas mostly decisive for tlic acc'eptance
Or rejection of religious innovations, wliich is of special coacera
to us. Naturally, and almost without exception, their weight tipped
the balance In favor of tradition, espcdafly when they sniffed
a threat to ancestral piety. Tliis tremendous power of the strictly
patnoiehical sib was, in truth, the carrier of tht: much discussed
"democracy" of Chino, whj<di had nothing whatsoever in coiiunon
with ■'modem" democracy. It W'as rather the expression first, of
tile abolition of feudal estates, second, of the extensiveness of
patrimonial bureauemtic: administration, and third, of the uu*
brokeu vigor and omnipotence of the jiaLriarchical sibs.

Economic orgauizatians which went beyond the scope nf the
individual Gstablisbinent rested almost wholly upon actual or
imitated personal sib relationships. First we wish to cousider
the community of the tsung-fxij. This sib organization owned. In
addidon to the ancestral temple and the school building, sib
houses for provisions and iuipicments for the processing of rice,
for the prepoiation nf conserves, for weaving, and other domestic
industries. Possibly a manager was employed. Apart from that,
the f«tntg-fsu supported its members in need through mutual aid
oud free or cheap credit Thus, it amounted to 0 Sib and cumula*
tive household couiimuiity which had been expanded into a pro-
diic^rs* cotipunitive.

On the other hand, in the cities there were, hesiides the shops
of individual artisjins, specific eiitrepreneurial commuaitiex,
SmoJl-capitalist in nature, these were organized as communal
workshops witJi an intanrive division of manual labor. Further¬
more, technical and coiumcrcial management were often special¬
ized and profits were distributed partly according to capital sLarex
and partly according to special commercial Or technical services.
Similar arrangemeubi have been known in Hellenistic antiquity

SELF-COVEHNMl5NT^ LAW, AND CAFITALISM w 97 K

and the Islamic Middle Ages. It seems that such establishments
in China were found especially to FaeiKtate joint snstaiiting of the
slack period in ^easond mdustries and, of course, to facilitate
credit and the speeiah^tiun oF pTodu^ztive workn
These ways of establishing large economic units had. In their
SOCiiXl aspects, a specLGcally deiiiocratic diajacter. They pro¬
tected the individual against the danger of proletarization and
capitalist subjection* From a pure!/ econonue point of view,
however, such dominatiori could creep in through high invest¬
ments by absentee capitalists and through the superior power
and higher profit shares enjoyed by employed sales managers*
The putting-out system, however, which introduced capitalist
domination lu the West, wa^ apparently [Xinfined until the present
to the various forms of purely factual dependefiee of the artisan
on the merchant Only in individual trades did it advnnco to the
level of dome^c work with inteispersed shops for finishing work
and a central sales bureau. At present the putting-out system ha.s
dcve]oj>cd on a significant scale in trades working for distant
markets. As we have seen. It may well have been decisive lliat
tlieru was ejdremely httle opportunity of onerdng the seniecs of
dependent workers and getting them to deliver on time in pre¬
scribed quantity and quality. Apparently, large privatn capitalist
factories can scarcely be traced historically. Probably no factories
producing mass consumer's goods existed sinec ihexe was no
steady market hir theTn- Except for rilk which could be marketed,
the textile industry could hardly compete with Uie dtunestic
industry^ even in distant places. Long-distance trade^ however,
was monopoli^d by the silk caravans of the imperial oik&s. MefaT
indusbry, because of tlie low prE>ductivity of the mines, oouJd
develop only on a modest scale. This l^ndicap resulted from
the general conditions which we have discussed in part above
and which will receive cocislderation in the passage bglcTw. In
the processing of lea there arc pictorial representHtions of large
plants with specialization of labor. They are comparable to
aneient Egyptian pictures. The state manufacturing establish-

* * THE tlELIfllON or CHINA

meuts nortnolly pfoductd luxury goods, os in Islamic Egypt. Ite
oxpanstDu of ilie state metal jndustn', fur rensons of cuucik^
valuation, was only transitory,

The guilds, dLsciijufed above, regulated apprenticeship, but
there is no mention of journeymen associations. Only in in¬
dividual cases did Lbe workers combine against the masters in
a strike; otherwise they had scarcely begun to develop into a dass
ijf their own, for reasons similar to those in Russia thirty years
ago. As far as is known the workers were members of the guilds
with etpial lights. More precisely, that the guild did not gener¬
ally practice iriouoprjlistic exclusion of apprentices was in
honuony with the handECraft nature of the trade which was
nut even ptty capilalisL Similarly, the liturgiui] closure of oo-
CUpatiODS re|>cated1y emerged and for a time was ap[)arentlv
tamed through. This might Lave led to caste formation, but
never did. The AnuaJs sfpecifieaUy mention an attempt of tliis
nature wLidi was made toward the end of the sixtfi century
anti ended in failure. A residue of magically "imclean” tribes
and occupations hati survived, Usually^*^ nine kinds of degraded
"castes” were distingnished: certain kinds of slaves, descendants
of certain slnves and cofonr, beggars, desecudants of former in-
suigents, dcsceudants of immigrant harbarians (guest tribes),
utusitiiHiis and performers participating in family ceremonies!
aetors and jugglers as in the Middle Ages. As in India, patnmage
of the unclean occupations was of three tj-pes: fixed, hereditary,
and alienable, Connubium, commensalisiu, and eligibility for
degrees was denied. By imperial decree, however, those who left
an unclean cicetipation could legally rehabilitate themselves by
court action [ for instance such decrees were made for some of
these castes as late as IS9^4}. iilavcry originated after the wars
of conquest through surrender or sale by parents, or as a form
of punishment by the goverrunent. Aa in the Occident, the freed
man liad to be obedient to his patron and was unable to acquire
examination degrees. During their peiiotl of service cootmet
laborers (ku kung) had to be obedient to their musters and were
denied commensalisin with them. The cokmi and land laboret^.

SELF^-GOVEKNMENT, LAW, AND CAPITALISM » t
form-e^Tly Df tlue ruling stmtuiii, did not boloDg to tLiS

categosy.

WTiatcver Las survived of sudi c^te-like phenomena is only
a pitifiil residue of the former stahiK stnictirre. Its prlnoipai
consequence was that the privileged estates were exempted from
corvee and corpond piinislimKiit (i.c., "tlio Ltcrati ' and the
“great families.** llie term “the hnndred families” meaning the
sigiii&cd latter sLraLuni). Instead, corv^c and cor¬
poral punishment were transmuted into money fines and deten¬
tion, and degradation to “plebeian** status was possible^ At on
early time> and fur fi^^cal TeasEJii;^, tiie iikl sitnietiire ha&cd

upon hereditary charisma was punctured by recurrent classified'
tion.s according to property.

Until recent ttmes in China ^for the past the outsider has no
certain evidenceclub associations flourished fhuj} alongside
the sihs, the merchant and craftguilds. The club thrived in all
spheres of life, especially in credit relations.^^ Details ot this
development shall not concern us htn-tK In mndum times, in
equalitarian China just as In democratic Ainerica, the successful
man has striven to legitimize himself socially by joining a highly
esteemed club. Similarly in China, a guild membership card was
aOixed to tlic shop lo guarantee quality products to buyers, or
there was a corresponding annfjimcementof the biiKiness principle
of Ikcd prices, "^onc price,*" “truly one price.™ In contrast to the
Puritans, however, strict aiftiLTencc to tiie principle was nut
guaranteed, iliese phenomena resulted from Ae extensiveness of
the patrimuiiial burtiiucraLy and the absence of a legally guaran¬
teed status structure.

In tlic modern period, apart from a tihilai DobUlty, no statiis
differentiation by birth has erisled among the Chinese. This
leaves aside the strict separation of the families registered iu the
Manchu army, the expression of a fureign nile which has existed
since the seventeenth century. As early as the eighteenth century
the *'bnurgeois” strata had wiieceedcd in loosening the fetters of
the police state. In the nineteenth centuiy there was free resi¬
dential mobility which had uhviously existed fur a long time.

» iOO €

THE KELICION OF CHINA

Official edicts, limvever, did not recognize this. Frewlom to settle
aiiri acquire {and in a couuuuiitty otiier than one's native com¬
munity tad been imposed by taxatioa autboribes, just as in the
Occident. Since 17(M, uicoibcnibip in a new conunimity hiui been
attained by actiuiring real estate and paying taxes for twenty
years, thereby forfeiting tnemlMsnihip in one's native coiiununity.^’
For a long Lirne there has been free choice of occupations, despite
the Sacred Edict of 1(571 which recommended adJterence to one’s
occupation, in the modem period we find neither compulsory
passport, scbnoling, nor military service. There are neilLer laws
restraining usury nor luiy similar legal restrictions to trade.
Though this state of affairs would seem to be very favarable to
the free development uf profitable, bourgeois enterprise, a bour¬
geois stratum of occideatal character has failed to develop. As
we noted, not even those forms of capitalist enterprise which
were known in the Occident during the Middle Ages have fuUy
matured. Again there is tlip old question diat, from a purely eoo-
Qomic point of view, n genuine bourgeois, industrial capitalism
might have developed from the petty capitalist begimiings we
have mentioued above. A number of reasons—-uiustly related to
Ihe sbucture of the state-can be seen for the fact that oapitalism
foiled to develop.

6. The Pairimonial Structure
of Law

IN THE patrimonial state, the typical ramificarions of administici-
h‘on and judiciary created a realm of unslwlcable sacred tradition
alongside a realm of prerogative and favwib'sm. EspedoUy sen¬
sitive to these political factors:, industrial capitabsm was impeded
by them in its development. Rational and calculable admlriistra-
Rot and law enforcement, necessary for Industrial development,
did not exist. Be it China, India, or Islam, in general, wherever
rational enaebuent and adjudicaUon of law had not triumphed,
the dictum w-as; Prerogatives have precedence over common law,
(wmktir briefu Landrecht). However, this dictum could not bene-

SELF-COVERNMENT, LAW, AND CAPITALISM ■ 101 «

fit the developmeat of capitalist legal institutions as it bfld done
in the occidental Middle Ages. On the one hand , the cities lacked
rarporate poUtical aiitoncimj/ and ou the ntlier, decisive legal
institutions, fixed anil guaranteed by privilege, did not exist. Yet
it was exactly by aid of these combined principles that all the
legal schemata appropriate to capitalism were crented in the occi¬
dental Middle Ages.

To a large extent the law was no longer a norm valid from
the remote past and justice was no longer “found“ by magical
means alone. For imperial administration of the occidental Middle
Ages enacted statutes an nwKse, and the legal provisions were
distinguished, at least tedmicany, by their relatively brief and
business-like form. Criminal law, as J. F. Kohler has emphasized,
knew a coosidtirable sublimation of le^l facts and took motives
into ennsideratiOQ.

This contracted to the patiiardiical instructions and admoni¬
tions of the Buddhist monarchs of India whose ethical and ad-
mitiistrative decrees resembled some of the Chinese statutes. The
Chinese statutes were also systematically eoUoeled in the Ta
C/i ing Lfi Li. But there were few and only indirectly pertinent
legal acts covering subject matter mast Important for commerce
in our sense. No ‘’fundamental freedoms of the Individual" were
giuuanteed. In one case among the Warring Slates (the state of
Ch’e% Sta AAx), tlie rationalism of the literati officials found ex¬
pression in a codification of the laws engraved on metal plates.
But according to the Annals/* when the question was discussed
among the stratum of literati a minister of the state of Ch'in suc-
L'cssfiilly objected; "If the people can read, they will dciipise their
superiois.” The chaiisaiatic prestige of the educated patrimonial
bureaucrat^ seemed endangered and these power interests never
again allowed such an Idea to emerge,

Though formally under separate secretaries for taxation aad
for justice, administration and law were not actually separated,
Thn mandarin official, in patrimonial fashion, hired domestic
sa^ts at his own expense for both police work and minor
office duties. The basically anti-formalist and patriarchlcal

THE EIELIQION OF CHINA

» 102 €

cLiimcter of mandaiin administration is unmisbilciibk—offensive
depciTtmt.'iiit wais pmiislied even without specific pro^Hskm^i. Most
significant was the intrinKie cJiamcter of adjudication. Fatri-
moniaUsuif being ethically oriented^ alway.'s ^auught substantive
justic^e ratliLT tluiu fomml law. Hence, iii spite of the tTadi-
tionalismp there was no citiiclal ooUeuLlan of precedents because
legal formalism was rejected and, iibiivi; aJh heeause Lliete was
no central court as iu England The local “shepherd'' of the nffidal
loievv the precedeotK. In following tried models^ as advised^ the
judicial procedure of the Chinesie {jfficiaJ corrfsponded cxtemaily
to the use of "Sfriii/to" among our junior judges, \Vhat is im¬
potence in the Liiter case svas extreme virtue in ChioaK
For the most part, dui aEiministrativc edicts of tlic Emperor
were couched in the pedagogical form peculiar to papa! bulls
of the Middle Ages but without a similarly precise legal content.
The best known statu tesi codified cthica] rather than legal norms
OJid excelled in literary eruditinn. Fnr example even the Kccimd
last EEU|>cror announc^ ixx the Peifng Gesetfe that the de^^nee
of a ramntc :mccstur had becu iound and would be published in
die near future as a code of conduct, insofar as It was oriented to
ortiiixloxy the whole imperial admliUstratioii was controlled by
on essentially djeuuriitii: board of literati. This was the oft-
mentioned ”Ac 4 id(jmy'' ff/anh'n. Yuun^ wbicb safeguarded Con-
fuL-iaii orthodoxy and perhaps corresponded to a congregation
of the papal GuiifU Accordiugly^ legal admiLiistraLlou remained
largely ‘'Cadi'' and possibly Xabin^t justice.''^

This was also the case of the judicial relation between English
sheriffs and tlie lower classes. But in Euglaud lU ordcT to transact
the fortuTies important fnr capitalism therro was the law of prece¬
dent with its coirespcading boiling Ju^bcep It had been created
under thi^ steady znlluencu of the interesled partms whose in-
fiuence was guaranteed through lecniitment of judges from
among lawyers. While not rational this law was calculable, and
ft made extezeiive coutradual autououiy possible.

However^, In patriarchal Chinese justice^ the advocate, in the
occidental sense^ was singularly out of place, ^ib mcmibcis, |30s-

SKLF-COYEnNMESTj LAW% AND CAPITALISM » lOS c

sifaly educated in hmctioiied us lawyers £ur didr Idn*

Otherwise a “Inw brow” consultant made out ^vrittfin doeuments.
Tins phenomenon was ehamiiteiisfic of all specifically patnniouial
states, particularly ilitjocnitic and etbico-ritualistie sLat&s of
Oriental stamp. That is, in addiUou to uoiicapitulistic Eources of
accumnl^terl wealthy Juch as the pi re political office and tax
prebend, a political capitalisni of purv'eyors to the state mid lair
farmers flourished. Under cettaiEi coudiUDn!^ this capitalism had
true orgies, FtirtheitnOrei, the purely commercial capitalisui of
middlemen developed.

However, the rational industrial capitalism which is specific
for imjclem development origmatud nowhere under this regime.
Capital investment in imlnstry is far too sensitive to such irra-
ticnal rule and liio dependent upon the ijossihiiity of calculating
the steady and rational Operation of die state machlneiy to emerge
under an admmistratioa of tliis type^ But why did this adminis^tm-
tion and judiciary remain so irxationnl from a capita]ist point of
view? That is the decisive question. Wt have become acquainted
^vith some of the InteresEs whicl]i played a part, but they ileserve
closer attention.

Just as capitalism lucked a judiciary independent of substautive
mdivddualizatiou and arbitrariness, so It lacked political prerequi¬
sites, To be sure, the feud was not bckiDg. On the contrary, the
whtjle of Chinese history is replete with great and small feuds,
including the nuiiieruus struggles of individuial villages, assocla^
tions, and sibs. Since the pacificaticn of tlic world empire, how¬
ever, there has been no ratJonal wTiifare, and what is moru
important, no armed po^ce during which several compt:bng auton¬
omous states cnnstnntly prepare for War, Capitalist phenomena
thus conditioned through war luans and commissions for war
purposes did not ap^iear.

The particularized state authorities of the Oc.Tiident had to
compete for freely mobile capital in Antiquity (before the World
Empire) as w^cll as dormg the Middle Ages and modiiirn times.
As in the Roman Empire, politicd competition for capital dis¬
appeared following the uniEcation of tlie Chinese Empire.^* The

THE HELICION OF CHINA

Chini^e Empire also lacked overseas and colonial relations and
this handicapped the development of those types of capitalism
conmioji to Occidental Antiquity, the Middle Ages, ami modism
times. Hiese were the varietit±s Ejf booty capitalism, represented
by colonial capitalism and by Mediterranean overseas capital isTn
connected with piracy, ^Vhile the barriers to overseas expansion
partly depended on the geographical conditions of a great inland
empire, in part, as we have seen, they resulted frotn the general
political and economic character of Chinese society.

Batieual entrepreneurial capitalisni, which in the Occident
found its specific locus in industry, has been handicapped not
only hy the lack ol a fortually guaranteed law, a rational ad¬
ministration and judiciary^ and hy the ramifications of a sj'stem of
prebends, but also, basically, by the lack of a particular incubaiity.
Above all it has been handicapped by the attitude rooted in the
Chinese ^ethos^ and peculiar to a stratum el oifieials and aspir¬
ants to officcp This brings uu to our central theme,

FAUX II

ORTHODOXY

CHAPTER V

THE LITERATI*

F

Ott twelve centuries socicil rant in China has been deter¬

mined nrnre by qu^ifiLiiticirj for ofBcc thoji by vvealth. Tim
qualificadoii, in turn, has been determined by education* and
especially by ejcamitiatforui. Cliina has made lltcrajcy cducaUoa
the yardstick of social prestige in the most exclusive fashion^ far
more exclusiveiy tlian did Europe during tlic period of tlie
humanists, or as Germany has done* Even during the period of
the Warririg States, the stratiiTn iif aspirauLs for offirre who
educated in litcrature-and originally this only meant that they
had a scriptural knowledge—extended ihrougb ail the uidividual
states, literati have been the bearers of progress tou'ard a rational
administratton and of all *^intelligeiice.^

As with Brahmanism in India, in China the literati have been
the decisive exponents of the unity uF culture. Tciritories (as
well as enclaves) not administered hy oBiciais educated in
litcrahire, according to the model of the orthodox State idea,
were considi:™! heterodox and barbarian, in the same way as
were the tribal territories that were w.^thin the territory of Hin¬
duism but not regulated by the Brahmans, as w^ell as landscapes
not organized as polh by the Creeks. The increasingly bureau-

Chiacifc Literati"' repriuted by pcnni^slon of Hims H, Gerth and
C. Wrigtit Mi lb Open'd University Frej» hom From Max Weber;

in CupyiighE lOW by Oxford Uni^xTaty Press, LaCn

f J OT^ -m

» 108 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

cratic structure of Chinese polities and of their carriers has
given to the whole hterary tradition of China its characteristic
stamp. For more than two thousand years the hterati have defi¬
nitely heen the ruling stratum in China and they still are. Their
dominance has been interrupted; often it has been hotly con¬
tested; but always it has been renewed and expanded. According
to the Annals, the Emperor addressed the hterati, and them alone,
as “My lords’^ for the first time in 1496.

It has been of immeasurable importance for the way in which
Chinese culture has developed that this leading stratum of in¬
tellectuals has never had the character of the clerics of Chris¬
tianity or of Islam, or of Jewish Rabbis, or Indian Brahmans, or
Ancient Egyptian priests, or Egyptian or Indian scribes. It is sig¬
nificant that the stratum of hterati in China, although developed
from ritual training, grew out of an education for genteel hymen.
The “hterati” of the feudal period, then ofBcially called po-shih,
that is, “hving libraries,” were first of all proficient in ritualism.
They did not, however, stem from the sibs of a priestly nobihty,
as did the Rishi sibs of the Rig-Veda, or from a guild of sorcer¬
ers, as did in all likelihood the Brahmans of the Atharva-Vedc.

In China, the hterati go back, at least in the main, to the
descendants, probably the younger sons, of feudal families who
had acquired a hterary education, especiahy the knowledge of
writing, and whose social position rested upon this knowledge
of writing and of hterature. A plebeian could ^o acquire a knowl¬
edge of writing, although, considering the Chinese system of
writing, it was diflScult. But if the plebeian succeeded, he shared
the prestige of any other scholar. Even in the feudal period,
the stratum of hterati was not hereditary or exclusive—another
contrast with the Brahmans.

Until late historical times, Vedic education rested upon oral
transmissions; it abhorred the fixing of tradition in writing, an
abhorrence which ah guilds of organized professional magicians
are apt to share. In contrast to this, in China the writing of
the ritual books, of the calendar, and of the Annals go back to
prehistoric times.* Even in the oldest tradition the ancient scrip-

THE LITERATI

109 «

tures were considered magical objects,^ and the men conversant
with them were considered holders of a magical charisma. As we
shall see, these have been persistent facts in C hin a. The prestige
of the hterati has not consisted in a charisma of magical powers
of sorcery, but rather in a knowledge of writing and of literature
as such; perhaps their prestige originally rested in addition upon
a knowledge of astrology. But it has not been their task to aid
private persons through sorcery, to heal the sick, for instance,
as the magician does. For such purposes there were special pro¬
fessions, which we shall discuss later. Certainly the significance
of magic in China, as everywhere, was a self-understood pre¬
supposition. Yet, so far as the interests of the community were
concerned, it was up to its representatives to influence the spirits.

The emperor as the supreme pontifex, as well as the princes,
functioned for the political community. And for the family, the
head of the sib and the housefather influenced the spirits. The
fate of the commimity, above all of the harvest, has been in¬
fluenced since olden times by rational means, that is, by water
regulation; and therefore the correct “order” of administration
has always been the basic means of influencing the world of
the spirits.

Apart from knowledge of scriptures as a means of discerning
tradition, a knowledge of the calendar and of the stars was re¬
quired for discerning the heavenly will and, above all, for know¬
ing the dies fasti and nefasti, and it seems that the position of the
hterati has also evolved from the dignified role of the court
astrologer.'* The scribes, and they alone, could recognize this im¬
portant order ritually (and originally probably also by means of
horoscopes) and accordingly advise the appropriate pohtical
authorities. An anecdote of the Annals® shows the results in a
striking manner.

In the feudal state of the Wei, a proved general—Wu Ch’i, the
alleged author of the textbook in ritually correct strategy which
was authoritative until our time—and a hterary man competed
for the position of first minister. A violent dispute arose between
the two after the literary man had been appointed to the post. He

» 110 c

THE BELldriN OF CHINA

readily admitted that he eoiild neither C0]:Lduct wars nor Tnaster
sinular politiLaJ tasks in the manner of tfiu general But when
tlie general thereupon declared himself to be tile better nian, the
literary man remarked that a revolutiou threatened the dymisty,
whL'rL'i]p}n the general admitted witlmnt any hefitation tJiat the
literary man was the better man to prevent it.

Only tlie adept of scriptures and of tradition has been con¬
sidered competent for corrcetly [miering the intcrual administra¬
tion and the cdiarisniiitically correct life conduct of the prince,
ritually and politically. In sharpest contrast to the Jewish
prophets, who were essentially interested iu foreign policy, the
Chinese literati-politfeians, trained in ritual, were primarily
oriented toward problems of internal admiiiistratinn, ev'en if
these problems involved absolute jM>wer pitlitics, and et^en tliougb
wliile in charge of the prince's tanrespondence oud of the chan-
cell^ they might personally be deeply involved in the gLiidanec
of diplomacy.

This constant orientaLion hiward problems of the "coircel-
administralJoij of the state determined a far-reaehing, practical,
snd political rationtdism among the intellectual stratum of the
feudal period. In contrast to the Strict truditfonallsm of tlie later
ptfriud, the Annals occasionally reveal the literati lo be audacious
political innovalois." Their pride to education kneiv no limit,^
and the prinpes-at least accordiag to the lay-out of the Annals
—paid them ^cat defercocti.* Their Inthuate relations lo the
service of patrimonial princes e.xistcd from ancient tiincs and has
been decisive for the peculiar clonicter of the literati.

The origin of the literati is veiled from ns in darkness, Appar¬
ently tliey were the Chinese (togitfr. TJje pontifical eesaro papisl
character of the imperial power has been decisive for their posf-
lioii, and the character of Chinese litemtore has uLio been detcr-
nitoed by it. There were olliefal Aimak, magically proved hymns
of war and sacrifice, calendars, as well as books of ritual and
ceremony. With their knowledge the literati supported the
character ol die slate, which was in the nature of an CKcIesiastic

THi^ T.ITEHATJ ik 111 «

and coiiipulsoiy inKtitiitjciii; they took the State for granted as
an axiomatic pre^uppodtion.

In Lhcir IjteraLure, Lli« literati created the eoncaipt iif “nfficPp''
abcive all, the ethos of “oiBcial duty" aud of the ""publfc wedL**^
If one loay trust the Amiais^ liitr literahj bemg adherenbi of thi?
bureau era tic organizatioa of the state as a L'uinpnlsory msUttitiDD,
were opponents of faudalisTn from the very beginning. This is
quite undeRtandable because, from the standpEiint of their in¬
terests, the adnujustrators shtaild be only men who were per-
sonaUy rpialified by a literaiy education.'^ On tlie Either hand,
they clahned fof iJvcni^clv^s to have shtmai the princes the way
toward autonEimnns administmtion, tow^ard goveriunejit manu-
fachire of anns and eonstmetJou of foriificatitjns, ways and means
by which the princes became “masters of their knds."^^

This close relation of the literati to princely service came about
during the stmggltr of the prince with the feudal powers. It dis-
lingEiishes the Chinese litemti from the educated kyanifn of Hel¬
las, as well as from ditKitr of Ancient India It inokcs

them similar to the Brahmans, from whom, however, they differ
greatly in their rilualist sijlK>rdiiiati{]Tt imrler a cesaro ^papist
poiiHfex. In addition, no caste order has cxIsLtxL in Chinap a fact
intimately L-oiinccted with the literarj' education and the sub¬
ordination under a pontifes.

The relaLioii of tlie Hterari to the office has changed Its nature
[ill the course of time]. During the period of the leudal sistes,
the various courts comjiutetl ior tiie services nf the literati, who
were seeking opportunities for power and. we must not forget, fnr
the best chai^ecs for income. A wliole stratum of vagrant
“sophjsLs" (che-sh^) emerged, comparable to the wayfaring
knights and scholars of the oEjcideutaL Middle Ages* As we shall
later sen, there w'cre also Chinese literati who, in principle. n>
mained unattached to any office. This Frtre and mc^bde strahim
of tiEcntri were Kirriers of philosophical schools and antagornsms.
a Kihiatfon comparable to tliosc of India, of Hellenic Antiquity^
and of the Middle Ages with its monks and scholars. Yct^ die

j> 112 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

literati as such felt themselves to be a unitary status group. They
claimed common status honors^® and were united in the feeling
of being the sole bearers of the homogeneous culture of China.

The relation of the Chinese literati to princely service as the
normal source of income difiFerentiated them as a status group
from &e philosophers of Antiquity and from at least the edu-
rated laymen of India, who, in the main, were socially anchored
in fields remote from any office. As a rule, the Chinese literati
strove for princely service both as a source of income and as a
nomal field of activity. Confucius, like Lao-tzu, was an official
before he lived as a teacher and writer without attachment to
offiM. We shaU see that this relation to state-office (or office in
a (Aurch state ) was of fundamental importance for the nature
of the mentahty of this stratum. For this orientation became in-
creasingly important and exclusive. The opportunities of the
princes to compete for the literati ceased to exist in the unified
empire. The h^erati and their disciples then came to compete for
toe existing offices, and this development could not fail to result
m a unified orthodox doctrine adjusted to the situation. This
doctrine was to be Confucianism.

As Chmese prebendalism grew, the originally free mental
mobihty of the literati came to a halt. This development was
my underway even at the time when the Annals and most of
toe systematic writings of the literati originated and when the
sacred books, wb'ch Shih Huang Ti had destroyed, were “redis-
covered.”^ They were “rediscovered” in order that they might
be revised, retouched, and interpreted by the literati and there-
with gain canonical value.

It IS evident from the Annals that this whole development came
about with the pacification of the empire, or rather that it was
pshed to Its conclusions during this period. Everywhere war has
been toe business of youth, and the sentence sexagenarios de
ponte has been a slogan of warriors directed against the “senate.”
The Chinese literati, however, were the “old men,” or thev ren-
resented the old men. The AonaU, as a paradigmatic pubhc
confession of the prince Mu Kung (of Ch’in), transmitted the

THE EITERATI » 113 c

idea that the prmtre had jinned by having listened to "youth""
(die warriors) and not to the “elderaj”' who^ although havlag
no strength, did Lave Ksperience.'® In fact, this was the dedsive
puiiit m the turn toward padlisiu and therewith toward tradi-
donalism^ Tradition displaced charisma.

J* Confucius

EVEN the oldest seetiODs of the classic writings connected with
the namp of K mig-tzu, that with Confucius as editor, permit
tiK to recognize the ccnditious of eliarisinatic warrior kings. (Con-
fudus died in the year 47S Bl,c. ) The heroic songs of the hymn-
book fShj7i Cbing) tell of kings fitting from war chariote, as dp
the Hellenic and ludlan epics. But considering their chEiracter as a
wholej wen these songs are no longer hcralcLi of individual, and
in general, purely humau heroism, as ore the Homeric and
Germanic epics. Even when the Shift Chitig was t>diteii, the king's
army had nothing nf the romance of the warrior followings or
the Homeric adventures. The army already had the character of
A disciplined bureaucracy^ and above all ft had “officers " The
kings, even in the Shik Ckfng, no longer win simply because they
are the greater heroes. And that is decisive for the spirit of the
army. They wm because before the Spirit of Heaven tliey are
morally right and boeauso thoir charismatic virtues are superior,
whereas their enemies are godless crtniimk who, by oppresrinn
and trespass upon iJio aiicfoat customs, have wronged their Sub*-
jecta' weal and thus have foregone their charisma. Victory is the
occasion for moralizing mflectiaiis mther than heroic Joy. In
contrast to the sacred scriptures of almost all other ethics, one is
struck at Once by the lack of any "shticking* espression, of any
even cnnceivably "indecent* image. Obviously, a very systematic
e^urgation has taken place here, and this may well have been the
specific contribution of Gonfucfus.

The pragniatic bransforniatioii of the ancient tradition in the
Annals, produced by official historiography and by the literati^ ub-
viously went beyond the priestly paradigms performed m the Old

» 114 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Testament, for example, in the Book of Judges. The chronicle
expressly ascribed to Confucius’ authorship contains the driest
and most sober enumeration of military campaigns and punitive
expeditions against rebels; in this respect it is comparable to the
hieroglyphic protocols of Assyria. If Confucius really expressed
the opinion that his character could be recognized with special
clarity from this work—as tradition maintains—then one would
have to endorse the view of those (Chinese and European) schol¬
ars who interpret this to mean that his characteristic achievement
was this systematic and pragmatic correction of facts from the
point of view of “propriety.” His work must have appeared in this
light to his contemporaries, but for us its pragmatic meaning, in
the main, has become opaque.^*

The princes and ministers of the classics act and speak like
paradigms of rulers whose ethical conduct is rewarded by Heaven.
OflBcialdom and the promotion of o£Bcials according to merit are
topics for glorification. The princely realms are still ruled heredi¬
tarily; some of the local ofiBces are hereditary fiefs; but the classics
view this system skeptically, at least the hereditary oflSces. Ulti¬
mately they consider this system to be merely provisional. In
theory, this pertains even to the hereditary nature of the dignity
of the emperor. The ideal and legendary Emperors (Yao and
Shun) designate their successors (Shun and Yu) without regard
to birth, from the circle of their ministers and over the heads of
their own sons, solely according to their personal charisma as
certified by the highest court oflBcials. The emperors designate
their ministers in the same way, and only the third Emperor, Yii,
does not name his first minister (Yi) but his son (Ch’i) to become
his successor.

In contrast with the old and genuine documents and monu¬
ments, one looks in vain for genuinely heroic minds in most of the
classic writings. The traditional view held by Confucius is that
caution is the better part of valor and that it ill behooves the wise
man to risk his own life inappropriately. The profound pacification
of the country, especially after the rule of the Mongols, greatly
enhanced this mood. The empire became an empire of peace.

THE LITERATI

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According to Mencius, there were no “just” wars within the fron¬
tiers of the empire, as it was considered as one unit. Compared
to the size of the empire, the army had finally become very tiny.
After having separated the training of the hterati from that of the
knights, the emperors retained sport and hterary contests and gave
mihtaty certificates^^ in addition to the state examinations of the
literati. Yet for a long time the attainment of such military certifi¬
cates had hardly any connection with an actual career in the
army.^® And the fact remained that the mihtary were just as
despised in China as they were in England for two hundred years,
and that a cultivated hterary man would not engage in social
intercourse on an equal footing with army oflBcers.^®

2. The Development of the Examination System

DURING the period of the central monarchy, the mandarins be¬
came a status group of certified claimants to oflBce prebends. All
categories of Chinese civil servants were recruited from their
midst, and their quahfication for oflBce and rank depended upon
the number of examinations they had successfully passed.

These examinations consisted of three major degrees,^® which
were considerably augmented by intermediary, repetitive, and
preliminary examinations as well as by numerous special condi¬
tions. For the first degree alone there were ten types of examina¬
tions. The question usually put to a stranger of unknown rank was
how many examinations he had passed. Thus, in spite of the an¬
cestor cult, how many ancestors one had was not decisive for
social rank. The very reverse held: it depended upon ones oflBcial
rank whether one was allowed to have an ancestral temple (or a
mere table of ancestors, which was the case with ilhterates). How
many ancestors one was permitted to mention was determined by
oflBcial rank.21 Even the rank of a city god in the Pantheon de¬
pended upon the rank of the city^s mandarin.

In the Confucian period (sixth to fifth century b.c.), the possi¬
bility of ascent into oflBcial positions as well as the system of ex¬
aminations was still unknown. It appears that as a rule, at least

* 116

THii JRELIGION OK EUIXA

in the feudal itates, the great famiiies’ were in the piKsession of
power. It was not until the Han dynasty—which was established
I»y 8 parvenu—that the bestowal of oSices according to merit w'as
raised to the level of a piiudple. And not until the Tang dynasty,
in 690 A.D,, were regulations set up for the highest degree. As we
have already mentioned, it is iiighly probable that literary edtica-
tioo perhaps with a few esceptions, was at first artually, and
iwrhaps also legally, njonopolmid by the “great families," just as
the Vedic education in India was monopolized. Vestigi^s of this
mntinued to the end. Members of the imperial sib, although not
freed from all esaminations. were freed from the eicammation for
the fir.rt degree. And the trustees, whom every caiididate for ex*
amina^l^ until recently, had to name, had to testify to the can¬
didate s good fauuly background," During modern limes this
tttstimnny has only mtsant the exclusion of descendants of barbers,
bailiffs, musicians, janitors, carriers, and others, Yet alongsdde this
wclusion^ there was the instihilion of "canadates for the man-
dannate," that is, die descendants of mandariuji enjoyed a snedal
and preferred position in fixing the maximum quota of examina-
tion candidat« from each province. The promotion lists used the
^cial fommla "from a mandarin family and from the people"
Th« sons of well^Ieserved officials held the low-est degree as a title
of honor. All of which represent residues of ancient conditions.

The examinatiou system has been fully carried through since
the end of the seventh century. This System was One uf the means
the patrimonial ruler used in preventing the formation of a dnsed
estate, which, m the manner of feudal vassals and office nobles
^uld have monopolized the rights to the office prebends. The
first trara; of the examination System s^em to emerge about the
time of Confucius {and Huong K'an) in tlie sub-state of Ch'in a
locahty which later became autocratic. The selection of candidates
was deteraifned essentially by military merit. Yet, even the Lt Ckl
and the Chou Li^ demand, in a quite rationalist way, that the dis¬
trict chiefs ej^loe their lower officials periodically with re,ja«l
to thmr morals, and then propose to the emperor which of Sem
should be promoted. In the unified state of the Han Emperora,

the riTERATl

> 117 «

pacifism began to direct the selecUOD of olfidsls. The power of die
Uterati was tremendously consoLidated after they had succeeded
iu elevating the correct Kuang Wu to the throae in £1 aj>. and in
mointainitig him against the popular “nsurper" Wang Mang. Dur¬
ing the struggle for prebends, which raged during the foUowiug
period and whicli we shall deal with later, the literati developed
into u unified status group.

EvetJ today \h<^ T'sug djmas^ iiradlate^ the glory of having
becQ tJie uctiial creator of Chinas greatness and culturt?. The
Tang dynasly, for tlie fir^t time, regulated Liiu Iiterati's po^i^on
and cstabli.'ihpd collegers for their uducatirm (in the sevendi reu-
tury). It also created the Hunlin Yuofi, the so^^aJJed “aciidemy'
which first edited the Annals in order Ui gain precedents, arid
then controlled the emperors correct deportuiciiL Finally^ after
the hloiigol storms^ the national Ming dynasty in the foukeeuth
eon tury decreed statutes which^ in essence, were definitive.**^
Schools were to be set up in every village, one for every bventy^
five families. As the school were not subsidized, the decree re¬
mained a dead letter—or rather we have already seen which pow^
ers gained control over the schools. Officials selected the best
pupils jmd enrolled a curtain number in the colleges. In the main^
these colleges have decayed, although in part they have been
newly founded. In 1352, prehun^is in the form of rice rents were
set aside for the "students.** In 1393^ the number of students was
fixed. After 1370, only cxaiuiiied men had claims to office$^

At once a fight set in between the various regions, especially
between the North and the South. The Scnith even then supplied
candidates fur examinations who were more cultured, having ex¬
perienced a more compichensive eovironmeuL But the North was
Uie military foimtkhun stuna of the empire. Hence, the emperor
intervened and punished (t) the examiners who had given the
first place*" to a Southerner. Separate lists for the North and the
South were set up, and moreover, a struggle for the patronage nf
ofiices began m^nicdiately. Even in 1357 spitciiil examinations were
given to officers* sons. Tilie officers and officials, however, went
fiirtlier, and deuiandcd the right to dcsignaLe tlieir Kucoessors^

» 118 €

THE RELICION OF CHINA

which meant a demand for ra-feudalization. Id 13 d 3 COa-

ceded, hut in the end only in a modified lojm. The caiididate^j
presented were preicrcntlally cnncdled in the colleges^ and pre-
berjck were to be reserved for thenn^ in 14tjS for three sons, tn
14&3 for one son^ Ln 1458 we meet with the purchase of coUego
places, and in 1454 with tire purchase of offices. During the fif¬
teenth century, as is always lie case, these developments arose
from the need for military funds. In 1492 these measures were
abolished, but in 1529 they were reintiodueed-

The departments also fought against one another. The Board
of Hites was in charge of the examinations after 730, but the
Board of Civil Office appointed the officials* The examined candi¬
dates were not infrequently boycotted by tlie latter department,
the former answering by going on ^ke dining the examinations.
Formally^ the minister of rites, actually, the minister of oflioes {fie
major-domo) were in the end the most powerful men in China.
Then merchants, who were expected to be Icss "stingy," came into
office.** Of course, tills hope was quite unjustiGcd. The Manchus
favored the old traditions and thus tha literati and, as far as
ble, ^purity" in the distribution of offices. But now^ as before,
three routes to office existed side by side: (I) imperial favors for
the sous of die "princely" families (examination privileges); (2)
easy examinations (officially every three to six years) for the
lower oJliciaLi by the higher officials who CCOtrolled patnmage;
this inevitably 1^ each time to advancement also to higher posi¬
tions; (S) the only legal way: to qualify effectively and purelv by
examiuatiou.

In the main, the system of exantinatiODs Las actually fulfilled
the functioiis os conceived by the emperor. Occasionally (in
), it was suggested to the emperor— one can imagine by whom
—that he draw the conclusion from the orthodox charisma of
virtues by abolishiag the examiimtioiis, since virtue alotie Jegiti-
mi:se$ and qiiaLGeir. This coiioiusion was soon dropped, whii->h
quite understandable For after all, both pHrties, emperor ami
graduates, had a stake in the ex am in a tion system, or at least thev
thou^t they hail. From the emperor’s standpoint, tlie examinatioD

THE LITERATI

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system corresponded entirely to the role which the mjestnit-
shestvo, a technically heterogeneous means, of Russian despotism
played for the Russian nobility. The system facilitated a com¬
petitive struggle for prebends and ofiBces among the candidates,
which stopped them from joining together into a feudal office
nobility. Admittance to the ranks of aspirants was open to every¬
body who was proved to be educationally qualified. The examina¬
tion system thus fulfilled its purpose.

3 . The Typological Position of
Confucian Education

WE SHALL now discuss the position of this educational system
among the great types of education. To be sure, we cannot here,
in passing, give a sociological typology of pedagogical ends and
means, but perhaps some comments may be in place.

Historically, the two polar opposites in the field of educational
ends are: to awaken charisma, that is, heroic qualities or magical
gifts; and, to impart specialized expert training. The first type
corresponds to the charismatic structure of domination; the latter
type corresponds to the rational and bureaucratic (modem) struc¬
ture of domination. The two types do not stand opposed, with no
connections or transitions between them. The warrior hero or the
magician also needs special training, and the expert official is
generally not trained exclusively for knowledge. However, they
are polar opposites of types of location and they form the most
radical contrasts. Between them are found all those types which
aim at cultivating the pupil for a conduct of life, whether it is of
a mundane or of a religious character. In either case, the life con¬
duct is the conduct of a status group.

The charismatic procedure of ancient magical asceticism and
the hero trials, which sorcerers and warrior heroes have applied
to boys, tried to aid the novice to acquire a “new soul,” in the
animist sense, and hence, to be reborn. Expressed in our language,
this means that they merely wished to awaken and to test a
capacity which was considered a purely personal gift of grace.

^ m <

THE BELIGIOX OF CHINA

For one con neither Ce^di not train for charisma. Eitber it cxisbs
irt nr it m inRltrated through a miracle of magical rebirth—
Otherwise Jt cmmot be attained.

Spocaalij^ed and cicpcrt ^clmoling attempts tci truin the pupil for
practical usefulness for administrative purposes—in the organiza¬
tion of publie authorities, business oHiecs, workshop?;^ or

industrial bboratnriea, disciplined armies. In principle^ this can
be accomplished with anybody, though to varying extent.

The pedagogy of cultivatLon, Cnally, attempts to ^duaife a culti¬
vated type of tnan^ whose nature depends on £he decisive stratum^S
reactive ideal of cultivation. And this means to educate a man
for a certain lutemal and oxtcixial deportment in life. In principle
this can be done with everybody, only the goal differs. If a sejm-
rate stratum of warriors form the decisive statii.v group—as in
Japan—education will aim at matring the pupil a Stylized knight
and courtier, who demises the pen-pushers as the Japanese
Samurai have despised them, lu jiarticular cases, the stratum may
display great x'ariations of type. If a priestly stratum is decisive*
It aim at makmg the disdplc a scribe, or at least an intellec-
hial, Iikewnse of greatly varying character In reality, none of these
types ever ocours in pure form* The numerous combinations and
intermccliarj^ links cannot be disnissed in this contesL What is
important here is to define the position of Chinese education in
lerms of these forms.

The holdovers of the primeval charismatlo training for mgen-
cratiDn, the nidk name, the previously discussed initiation riles of
youth, the bridegnjom^s cliange of name, and SO Clip have for a
long time in China been a formula (in the manner of the Protes¬
tant confiniiation) standing beside tlic testing of educational
qualifications. Such tests have been monopolized bv tlie ptilsHcal
authorities. The educational qualification, however, in view of the
edueatiaual means employed, has been a “eulLurar qualification,
in the sense of a gemeral cducatifm. It was of a similar* yet nf a
more specific nature than, for fnstancep the /lumanis# educabCDal
qualificiiHtMi of the Occident.

In Germany^ such an education, until recently and almost ex-

TffK LITEHATl

^ m *

diLsivi^Iy, w;is -a prerequisite for th« offidoJ career leading to posi¬
tions of eomrofmd in civil and Dillitary admluistuLtioii. At the same
tuonc this hummu&i eduoati[jn Iix? stamped the pupils who were to
be prepiired for such careers as belonging socially to the eulhited
status group. In Ccrmany^ however—and this is a very important
dilfcrcnets hutwKeri China and the Occident—rational and special¬
ized expert training has been added to, and hi part lias dhiplaced,
this educatfonal status quaMcadDn.

Tile Ciilneso examLinatinns did not test any special skiUs, as do
our modem national and bureaucratic cxaiiiination rcgiiJalions
for jurists, medical doctors, or tediniqians- Nor did the Chinese
examfnati{}n^ text the possession of charlsmap OS do the typical
“^trials” of magicians and bachelor leagues. To be sure, we shall
presently see the fi^iialiEGaticm!! which this statement requires* Yet
It holds at least for the technique of the examinations.

The examinatioDS ol C hina tested whether or not the candl'
date'll mind whs thoTonghly steeped in literature and whether or
not he possessed the of thought suitable tn a ciiltured man
and rcsulHng from cultivation in hterature. These quoMcatiDns
held far more specifically with China than with the German
humanist gymnasiurn. Today one is used to Jnstifjiug the
nasium by pointing to the practical value of formal education
through the study of Antiquity, As far as one may ^udge from the
assignments^ given to the pupils of the lower grades in China,
they were rather similar to the essay topics a-ssigned to the top
grad es pf a Gennan gjinnasium, or perhaps better stLll, to the
select class of a Cennau girls" college. All the grades were in¬
tended as tests in penmanship^ style, mastery of classic Writings,^“
and finally—slmilar to our lessons in religiou, history, and German
—in conformity witli the prescribed mental outloofc.^^ lu our con-
text it Is decisive tiiat this education was on the one hand purely
secular in nature, butp on the other, was bound to tlie fijeed norm
of the orthodox inteq^retation of the daxslo authors. It was a
higlily exclusive and boolctsh literaiy educatioa.

The L'terory character of educatiuu in India, Judutsm, Chris-
tiauity^ and iHlam rp.sidted from the fact that It was completely iu

» 122 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

the hands of Brahmans and Kabbis trained in literature, or of
clerics and monks of book religions who were professionally
trained in literature. As long as education was Hellenic and not
Hellenist,” the Hellenic man of culture was and remained pri¬
marily ephebe and hophte. The effect of this was nowhere thrown
into relief more clearly than in the conversation of the Symposium,
where it is said of Plato's Socrates that he had never “flinched" in
the field, to use a student term. For Plato to state this is obviously
at least of equal importance with everything else he makes
Alcibiades say.

During the Middle Ages, the military education of the knight,
and later the genteel education of the Renaissance salon, provided
a corresponding though socially different supplement to the edu¬
cation transmitted by books, priests, and mo^. In Judaism and
in China, such a counterbalance was, in part altogether, and in
part as good as altogether, absent. In India, as in China, the lit¬
erary means of education consisted substantially of hymns, epic
tales, and casuistry in ritual and ceremony. In India, however,
this was underpinned by cosmogonic as well as religious and
philosophical speculations. Such speculations were not entirely
absent from die classics and from the transmitted commentaries
in China, but obviously they have always played only a very minor
role there. The Chinese authors developed rational systems of
social educs. The educated stratum of China simply has never
been an autonomous status group of scholars, as were the Brah¬
mans, but rather a stratum of officials and aspirants to office.

Higher education in China has not always had the character it
has today. The public educational institutions (Pan kung) of the
feudal princes taught the arts of the dance and of arms in addition
to the knowledge of rites and literature. Only the pacification of
the empire into a patrimonial and unified state, and finally, the
pure system of examinations for office, transformed this older
education, which was far closer to early Hellenic education, into
what has existed into the twentieth century. Medieval education,
as represented in the authoritative and orthodox Hsiao Hsueh,
that is "schoolbook,” still placed considerable weight upon dance

THE LITERATI

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and music* To be sure, the old war dance seems to have existed
only in rudimentary form, but for the rest, the children, according
to age groups, learned certain dances* The purpose of this was
stated to be the taming of evil passions* If a child did not do well
during his instruction, one should let him dance and sing* Music
improves man, and rites and music form the basis of self-control*^®
The magical significance of music was a primary aspect of all
this. “Correct music”—that is, music used according to the old
rules and strictly following the old measures—“keeps the spirits
in their fetters.”^® As late as the Middle Ages, archery and char¬
ioteering were still considered general educational subjects for
genteel children*^® But this was essentialiy mere theory. Going
through the schoolbook one finds that from the seventh year of
life, domestic education was strictly separated according to sex;
it consisted essentially of instilling a ceremonial, which went far
beyond all occidental ideas, a ceremonial especially of piety and
awe toward parents and all superiors and older persons in gen¬
eral. For the rest, the schoolbook consisted almost exclusively of
rules for self-control.

This domestic education was supplemented by school instruc¬
tion. There was supposed to be a grade school in every hsien.
Higher education presupposed the passing of the first entrance
examination* Thus two things were peculiar to Chinese higher
education* First, it was entirely nommilitary and purely literary,
as all education established by priesthoods has been. Second, its
literary character, that is, its written character, was pushed to ex¬
tremes* In part, this appears to have been a result of the peculi¬
arity of the Chinese script and of the literary art which grew out
of it,^^

As the script retained its pictorial character and was not ra¬
tionalized into an alphabetical form, such as the trading peoples
of the Mediterranean created, the literary product was addressed
at once to both the eyes and the ears, and essentially more to the
former* Any “reading aloud” of the classic books was in itself a
translation from the pictorial script into the (unwritten) word*
The visual character, especially of the old script, was by its veiy

» 124 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

nature remote from the spoken word. The monosyllabic language
requires sound perception as well as the perception of pitch^
tone. With its sober brevity and its compulsion of syntactical
logic, it stands in extreme contrast to the purely visual character
of script. But in spite of this, or rather—as Grube has shown in an
ingenious way—in part because of the very rational qualities of
its structure, the Chinese tongue has been unable to oflFer its
services to poetry or to systematic thinking. Nor could it serve the
development of the oratorical arts as have the structures of the
Hellenic, Latin, French, German, and Russian languages, each in
its own way. The stock of written symbols remained far richer
than the stock of monosyllabic words, which was inevitably quite
delimited. Hence, all phantasy and ardor fled from the poor and
fonhalistic intellectualism of the spoken word and into the quiet
beauty of the written symbols. The usual poetic speech was held
fundamentally subordinate to the script. Not speaking but writing
and reading were valued artistically and considered as worthy of
a gentleman, for they were receptive of the artful products of
script. Speech remained truly an aflFair of the plebs. This contrasts
sharply with Hellenism, to which conversation meant everything
and a translation into the style of the dialogue was the adequate
form of all experience and contemplation. In Ghina the very finest
blossoms of literary culture lingered, so to speak, deaf and mute
in their silken splendor. They were valued far ^gher than was
the art of drama, which, characteristically, flowered during the
period of the Mongols.

Among the renowned social philosophers, Meng Tzu (Mencius)
made systematic use of the dialogue form. That is precisely why
he readily appears to us as the one representative of Confu¬
cianism who matured to full ‘lucidity.” The very strong impact
upon us of the “Confucian Analects” (as Legge called them) also
rests upon the fact that in Ghina (as occasionally elsewhere) the
doctrine is clothed in the form of (in part, probably authentic)
sententious responses of the master to questions from the disciples.
Hence, to us, it is transposed into the form of speech. For the
rest, the epic hterature contains the addresses of the early war-

THE LITERATI

» 125 c

rior kings to the army; in their lapidar forcefubess, they are
bghly impressive. Part of the didactic Analects consists of
speeches, the character of wbch rather corresponds to pontifical
“allocutions.” Otherwise speech plays no part in the o£BciaI litera¬
ture. Its lack of development, as we shall see presently, has been
determmed by both social and political reasons.

In spite of the logical qualities of the language, Chmese thought
has remained rather stuck m the pictorial and the descriptive. The
power of logos, of definmg and reasonmg, has not been accessible
to the Chmese. Yet, on the other hand, this purely scriptural edu¬
cation detached thought from gesture and expressive movement
still more than is usual with the hterary natiue of any education.
For two years before he was mtroduced to their meanmg, the
pupil learned merely to paint about 2,000 characters. Further¬
more, the examiners focused attention upon style, the art of
versification, a firm groundmg m the classics, and finally, upon
the expressed mentality of the candidate.

■The lack of all trainmg m calculation, even m grade schools, is
a very striking feature of Chinese education. The idea of posi¬
tional numbers, however, was developed®* during the sixth cen¬
tury before Christ, that is, during the period of Warring States.
A calculative attitude m commercial mtercourse had permeated
all strata of the population, and the final calculations of the
administrative oflBces were as detailed as they were diflBcult
to survey, for reasons mentioned above. The medieval school¬
book (Hsiao Hsiieh 1, 29) enumerates calculation among the
six “arts.” And at the time of the Waning States, there existed
a mathematics wbch allegedly mcluded trigonometries as well
as the rule of tbee and commercial calculation. Presumably this
literature, apart from fragments, was lost during Shih Huang Ti’s
bummg of the books.®® In any case, calculation is not even men¬
tioned m later pedagogy. And in the course of bstory, calculation
receded more and more into the background of the education of
the genteel mandarins, finally to disappear altogether. The edu¬
cated merchants learned calculation m their busmess offices. Smee
the empire had been unified and the tendency toward a rational

» 12G €

THE DF CHIKA

:ici]TU]ii^y.tiiJii of the stute h^d weakenEMl, the Tnandann became a
gOTtwl bteraxy man, who was not one to occupy hiinself with the
of escalation.

The mundane character of this education contrasts with other
cducntiOLiS systems, wliicb arc uev'CrlLeleias nelattid to it by their
literary stamp. The Uteraiy examiDatioQS in China were purely
political al^airs. Instruction was given partly by inciivkhmi uiid
private tutors and partly by the teaching staffs of college founda¬
tions. But no priest took part in them.

The Chris tian universities of the Middle Ages uxiginatifd inim
die practical and idea] need for a rational mundane^ and eccle^
siastic legal doctrine and a mtiotml (dialectical) theologyp The
universities of Islam > following the model of the late Komon law
schools and of Christiaii theology^ practiced sacred case law and
the doctrine of faith; tlie Rabbis practiced interpretation of the
law; the philosophers' schools of the Brahmans engaged in specu¬
lative philosophy^ in ritual, as well as in sacred 1aw+ Always eo-^
desiastic dignitaries or theologians have formed either the solo
teaching staff or at least its basic corps. To this corps were
attadied munduiio teachers^ in whos^e hands the other branches of
study rested. In Christlanjty, Islam, and Hinduism, prebends were
the goals, and for the sake of them educatiDTid certificates were
striven after^ In addiHou* of course, the aspirant wished to qualify
for ritual activity and the curing of souls. Willi tlie andent Jewdsh
tnadiers (preciirsoia of die Rabbb)* who worked “gratis," the goal
was solely to qualify for instmetiug the laymen in the law, for
diis instruction was rcllgiotisly kLdiS[Hinmbl€?+ But in all this, edu¬
cation was always bound by sacred or ctiltic scriptures. Only the
Hclleojc philosophers^ schools engaged in an eclucation solely of
lajTnen and freed from ail ties to scriptures^ freed from all direct
interests in prebends, and solely devoted to the education of Hel¬
lenic “gentlemen* (Cofoic^gafftoO*

Ciiiitcse education served the iutcresl in prebends and was tied
to a script, but at the same time it was purely lay tdn cation, partly
of a rituahst and ecrcmciuial character ami pardy of a traditiotiai-
irt and ethical charactcT. The schnols were concenicd with neither

THE LITERATI

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mathematics nor natural sciences, with neither geography nor
grammar. Chinese philosophy itself did not have a speculative,
systematic character, as Hellenic philosophy had and as, in part
and in a difFerent sense, Indian and occidental theological school¬
ing had. Chinese philosophy did not have a rational-formalist
character, as occidental jurisprudence has. And it was not of an
empirical casuist character, as Rabbinic, Islamite, and, partly,
Indian philosophy. Chinese philosophy did not give birth to
scholasticism because it was not professionally engaged in logic,
as were the philosophies of the Occident and the Middle East,
both of them being based on Hellenist thought. The very concept
of logic remained absolutely alien to Chinese philosophy, which
was bound to script, was not dialectical, and remained oriented
to purely practical problems as well as to the status interests of
the patrimonial bureaucracy.

This means that the problems that have been basic to all occi¬
dental philosophy have remained unknown to Chinese philosophy,
a fact which comes to the fore in the Chinese philosophers’ man¬
ner of categorical thought, and above all in Confucius. With the
greatest practical matter-of-factness, the intellectual tools re¬
mained in the form of parables, reminding us of the means of
expression of Indian chieftains rather than of rational argumenta¬
tion. This holds precisely for some of the truly ingenious state¬
ments ascribed to Confucius. The absence of speech is palpable,
that is, speech as a rational means for attaining pohtical and
forensic effects, speech as it was first cultivated in the Hellenic
polis. Such speech could not be developed in a bureaucratic patri¬
monial state which had no formalized justice. Chinese justice
remained, in part, a summary Star Chamber procedure (of the
high oflBcials), and, in part, it relied solely on documents. No oral
pleading of cases existed, only the written petitions and oral hear¬
ings of the parties concerned. The Chinese bureaucracy was inter¬
ested in conventional propriety, and these bonds prevailed and
worked in the same direction of obstructing forensic speech. The
bureaucracy rejected the argument of “ultimate” speculative prob¬
lems as practically sterile. The bureaucracy considered such

128 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

arguments improper and rejected them as too delicate for one's
own position because of the danger of innovations.

If the technique and the substance of the examinations were
purely mundane in nature and represented a sort of “cultural
examination for the hterati,” the popular view of them was very
different: it gave them a magical-charismatic meaning. In the eyes
of the Chinese masses, a successfully examined candidate and
official was by no means a mere applicant for office qualified by
knowledge. He was a proved holder of magical qualities, which,
as we shall see, were attached to the certified mandarin just as
much as to an examined and ordained priest of an ecclesiastic
institution of grace, or to a magician tried and proved by his
guild.®^

The position of the successfully examined candidate and official
corresponded in important points, for example, to that of a Cath-
ohc chaplain. For the pupil to complete his period of instruction
and his examinations did not mean the end of his immaturity.
Having passed the “baccalaureate,” the candidate came under the
discipline of the school director and the examiners. In case of bad
conduct his name was dropped from the lists. Under certain con¬
ditions his hands were caned. In the localities’ secluded cells for
examinations, candidates not infrequently fell seriously ill and
suicides occurred. According to the charismatic interpretation of
the examination as a magical “trial,” such happenings were con¬
sidered proof of the wicked conduct of the person in question.
After the applicant for office had luckily passed the examinations
for the higher degrees with their strict seclusion, and after, at long
last, he had moved into an office corresponding to the number and
rank of examinations passed and depending on his patronage, he
still remained throughout his life under the control of the school.
And in addition to being under the authority of his superiors, he
was under the constant surveillance and criticism of the censors.
Their criticism extended even to the ritualist correctness of the
very Son •of Heaven. The impeachment of the officials^® was
prescribed from olden times and was valued as meritorious in the
way of the Catholic confession of sins. Periodically, as a rule every

THE LITERATI

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three years, his record of conduct, that is, a list of his merits and
faults as determined by ofiBcial investigations of the censors and
his superiors, was to be published in the Imperial Gazette.^^ Ac¬
cording to his published grades, he was allowed to retain his post,
was promoted, or was demoted.®^ As a rule, not only objective
factors determined the outcome of these records of conduct. What
mattered was the “spirit,” and this spirit was that of a life-long
pennalism by ofiBce authority.

4. The Status-Honor of
the Literati

AS A STATUS group, the literati were privileged, even those
who had only been examined but were not employed. Soon after
their position had been strengthened, the literati enjoyed status
privileges. The most important of these were: first, freedom from
the sordida munera, the corvee; second, freedom from corporal
punishment; third, prebends (stipends). For a long time this third
privilege has been rather severely reduced in its bearing, through
the financial position of the state. The Sheng (baccalaureate) still
got stipends of $10.00 yearly, with the condition that they had to
submit every three to six years to the Chii jen or Master’s examina¬
tion. But this, of comrse, did not mean anything decisive. The
burden of the education and of the periods of nominal pay actu¬
ally fell upon the sib, as we have seen. The sib hoped to recover
their expenses by seeing their member finally enter the harbor of
an oflBce. The first two privileges were of importance to the very
end; for the corvee still existed, although to a decreasing extent.
The rod, however, remained the national means of punishment.
Caning stemmed from the terrible pedagogy of corporal punish¬
ment in the elementary schools of China. Its unique character is
said to have consisted in the following traits, which remind one
of our Middle Ages but were obviously developed to even greater
extremes.^® The fathers of the sibs or of the villages compiled the
“red cards,” that is, the list of pupils (Kuan-tan). Then for a cer¬
tain period they engaged a schoolmaster from among the over-

» 130 € THE RELIGION OF CHINA

supply of literati without ofiSce, which always existed. The
ancestral temple (or other unused rooms) was the preferred
schoolroom. From early until late the howling in unison of the
written “lines” was to be heard. All day long the pupil was in a
condition of mental daze, which is denoted by a Chinese charac¬
ter, the component parts of which signify a pig in the weeds
(meng). The student and graduate received slaps on the palm of
his hand, no longer on what, in the terminology of German
mothers of the old hue, was called “the God-ordained spot.”

The graduates of high rank were entirely free from such punish¬
ment so long as they were not demoted. And in the Middle Ages
freedom from the corvee was firmly established. Nevertheless, in
spite and also because of these privileges, the development of
feudal ideas of honor was impossible on their basis. Moreover, as
has been observed, these privileges were precarious because they
were immediately voided in the case of demotion, which fre¬
quently occurred. Feudal honor could not be developed on the
bases of examination certificates as a qualification for status, pos¬
sible degradation, corporal punishment during youth, and the not
quite infrequent case of degradation even in old age. But once,
in the past, such feudal notions of honor had dominated Chinese
life with great intensity.

The old Annals praise “frankness” and “loyalty” as cardinal vir¬
tues.®* “To die with honor” was the old watchword. “To be unfor¬
tunate and not to know how to die is cowardly,” This applied
particularly to an oflBcer who did not fight “unto the death.”'*®
Suicide was a death which a general, having lost a battle, valued
as a ‘jfmvUege. To permit him to commit suicide meant to forego
the right to punish him and therefore was considered with hesi-
tation.*^ The meaning of feudal concepts was changed by the
patriarchal idea of hsiao. Hsiao meant that one should suffer
calumny and even meet death as its consequence if it served the
honor of the master. One could, and in general should, compen¬
sate for all the mistakes of the lord by loyal service. The kotow
before the father, the older brother, the creditor, the oflBcial, and
the emperor was certainly not a symptom of feudal honor. For

THE LITERATI

» 131 «

the correct Chinese to kneel before his love, on the other hand,
would have been entirely taboo. AU this was the reverse of what
held for the knights and the cortegiani of the Occident.

To a great extent, the official s honor retained an element of
student honor regulated by examination achievements and pubhc
censures by superiors. This was the case even if he had passed the
highest examinations. In a certain sense, it is true of every bu¬
reaucracy (at least on its lower levels; and in Wiirttemberg, with
its famous “Grade A, Fischer,^" even in the highest positions of
office); but it held to quite a different extent in China.

5 . The Gentleman Ideal

THE pecuhar spirit of the scholars, bred by the system of exami¬
nations, was intimately connected with.the basic presuppositions
from which the orthodox and also, by the way, nearly all hetero¬
dox, Chinese theories proceeded. The dualism of the shen and
kuei, of good and evil spirits, of heavenly Yang substance as over
against earthly Yin substance, also within the soul of the individ¬
ual, necessarily made the sole task of education, including self-
education, to appear to be the unfolding of the Yang substance
in the soul of man.^ For the man in whom the Yang substance has
completely gained the upper hand over the demonic kuei powers
resting within him also has power over the spirits; that is, accord¬
ing to the ancient notion, he has magical power. The good spirits,
however, are those who protect order and beauty and harmony
in the world. To perfect oneself and thus to mirror this harmony
is the supreme and the only means by which one may attain such
power. During the time of the Hterati, the chiin tzu, the “princely
man,” and once the “hero,” was the man who had attained all-
around self-perfection, who had become a “work of art” in the
sense of a classical, eternally valid, canon of psychical beauty,
which hterary tradition implemented in the souls of disciples. On
the other hand, since the Han period at the latest,^® it was a firmly
estabhshed belief among the hterati that the spirits reward
^T)eneficence,” in the sense of social and ethical excellence. Benev-

» 132 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

olence tempered by classical (canonical) beauty was therefore
the goal of self-perfection.

Canonically perfect and beautiful achievements were the high¬
est aspiration of every scholar as well as the ultimate yardstick of
the highest qualification certified by examination. Li Hung-
chang’s youthful ambition was to become a perfect hterary man/'*
that is, a “crowned poet,” by attainment of the highest degrees.
He was, and he remained, proud of being a calligrapher of great
craftsmanship and of being able to recite the classics by heart,
especially Confucius’ “Spring and Autumn.” This ability occa¬
sioned his uncle, after having tested it, to pardon the imperfec¬
tions of his youth and to prociure him an office. To Li Hung-chang
all other branches of knowledge (algebra, astronomy) were only
the indispensable means of “becoming a great poet.” The classical
perfection of the poem he conceived in the name of the Empress-
Dowager, as a prayer in the temple of the tutelary goddess of
silk-culture, brought him the Empress’ favor.

Puns, euphemisms, allusions to classical quotations, and a re¬
fined and purely hterary intellectuahty were considered the con¬
versational ideaJ of the genteel man. All politics of the day were
excluded from such conversation.*® It may appear strange to us
that this sublimated “salon” cultivation, tied to the classics, should
enable man to administer large territories. And in fact, one did
not manage the administration with mere poetry even in China.
But the Chinese prebendary official proved his status quality, that
is, his charisma, through the canonical correctness of his hterary
forms. Therefore, considerable weight was placed on these forms
in official communications. Numerous important declarations of
the emperors, the high priests of hterary art, were in the form of
didactic poems. On the other hand, the official had to prove his
charisma by the “harmonious” course of his administration; that
is, there must be no disturbances caused by the restless spirits of
nature or of men. The actual administrative “work” could rest on
the shoulders of subordinate officials. We have noticed that above
the official stood the imperial pontifex, his academy of hterati.

THE LITERATI

» m €

and his collegiate body of censors. They publicly rewarded, pun¬
ished, scolded, exhorted, encouraged, or lauded the officials.

Because of the publication of the “personal files” and all the
reports, petitions, and memorials, the whole administration and
the fateful careers of the officials, with their (alleged) causes, took
place before the broadest public, far more so than is the case with
any of our administrations under parliamentary control, an ad¬
ministration which puts the greatest weight upon the keeping of
“official secrets.” At least according to the official fiction, the offi¬
cial Gazette in China was a sort of running account of the emperor
before Heaven and before his subjects. This Gazette was the
classic expression for the land of responsibility which followed
from the emperor s charismatic qualification. However dubious in
reality the official argumentation and the completeness of pub¬
lication may have been-that, after all, also holds for the commu¬
nications of our biu-eaucracy to our parliaments—the Chinese
procedure at least tended to open a rather strong and often a quite
eflFective safety-valve for the pressure of public opinion with re¬
gard to the official’s administrative activities.

6. The Prestige of Officialdom

THE hatred and the distrust of the subjects, which is common to
all patrimonialism, in China as everywhere turned above all
against the lower levels of the hierarchy, who came into the closest
practical contact with the population. The subjects’ apolitical
avoidance of aU contact with “the state” which was not absolutely
necessary was typical for China as for all other patrimonial sys¬
tems. But this apolitical attitude did not detract from the signifi¬
cance of the official education for the character formation of the
Chinese people.

The strong demands of the training period were due partly to
the peculiarity of Chinese script and partly to the peculiarity of
the subject matter. These demands, as well as the waiting periods
which were often quite long, forced those who were unable to live

* i34 M

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

ou a fortune of tbeir ow^p on loanSp or on fainily uf the ^rt

discusi^^d above, to take up practical ncc^ispations of all sorts^ from
merchwit to miracle doctor, before completing their educatioual
carocris. Then they did not reach the classics themselves, but only
the study of tlie last (the skthJ tes^tlKKjk, the "schoolbook" /H-S'iao
Hsueh)^*'^ which hollowed by age and conlained mainly ex¬
cerpts From the -classic authors- Only this difference in the leceZ
of education and not differences in the kind of education set these
cirdes oH from the bureaucracy. For only da^zc education
existed.

The percentage of candidates who failed the cxauiiuations was
extraordinarily high. In consequence of the fixed quotas,^^ the
fmcttiin of graduates of the higher examinations was proportion¬
ately smaUp yet they always outnumbcicd many times the avail¬
able ofEce prebends. They coiiqacted fur the prebends by personal
patronage/” by purchase mouey of their own, or by Icans^ The
sale of prebends functioned here as in Europe; it was a means of
raising eapilal for the purposes of state^ and very frequently it re¬
placed merit ratings.*^ The prote^s of the reformers against the
sale of o&ccs persisted imtil the last days of the old system^ a^ is
sliuwn by the jinmeruuK petitions of this sort hi the Peting

The ofGciak" short terms of tiffice (three years), corrcspcmding
to similar Islamic institutions, allow^ for intensive and rational
InQucncing of the economy through the administration as such
ouly in an intcnziittczit and jerky way. This was the case in spite
of the administration's theoretical omuipoieuix?. It 15 astonishing
how few permanent ofBcLalj the administrabon believer] to be
sufficient The figures alnne make it perfectly obvious that as a
rule things must have been permitted to take their own couise, as
long os die mtcrests of the state power and of the treasury re¬
mained untouched and as long as die forces of tradition, the sibs,
viUages, guildSp and other occupational associations jcmaihed the
normal carriers of order.

Yet in spite of the apolitical attitude of tlie masses, wlndj we
have just mentioned^ the views of the stratum of applicants for

THE LITERATI

» 135 c

oflBce exerted a very considerable influence upon the way of life
of the middle classes. This resulted, first and above all, from the
popular magical-charismatic conception of the qualification for
oflice as tested by examination. By passing the examination, the
graduate proved that he was to an eminent degree a holder of
shen. High mandarins were considered magically qualified. They
could always become objects of a cult, after their death as well
« during their lifetime, provided that their charisma was
proved.” The primeval magical significance of written work and
of documents lent apotropaic and therapeutic significance to their
seals and to their handwriting, and this could extend to the ex¬
amination paraphernalia of the candidate. A province considered
It an honor and an advantage to have one of its own sons selected
by the emperor as the best graduate of the highest degree,®® and
all whose names were publicly posted after having passed their
examinations had “a name in the village.” All guilds and other
clubs of any significance had to have a literary man as a secre¬
tary, and these and similar positions were open to those graduates
for whom oflBce prebends were not available. The oflBceholders
and *e examined candidates for oflBce, by virtue of their magical
charisma and of their patronage relations-especially when they
stemmed from petty bourgeois circles—were the natural “father
confessors” and advisers in all important aflFairs of their sibs In
this they corresponded to the Brahmans (Gurus) who performed
the same function in India.

Alongside the purveyor to the state and the great trader, the
oflBceholder, as we have seen, was the personage with the most
opportunities for accumulating possessions. Economically and
personally, therefore, the influence on the population of this
stratum, outside as well as inside their own sibs, was approxi¬
mately as great as was the combined influence of the scribes and
priests in Egypt. Within the sib, however, the authority of old age
was a strong counterweight, as we have already emphasized.
Quite independent of the “worthiness” of the individual oflBcials,
who were often ridiculed in popular dramas, the prestige of this
literary education as such was firmly grounded in the population

» 136

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

until it came to be undermined by modem Western-trained mem¬
bers of the mandarin strata.

7 . Views on Economic Policy

THE social character of the educated stratum determined its
stand toward economic policy. According to its own legend, for
millennia, the polity had the character of a religious and utili¬
tarian welfare-state, a character which is in line with so many
other typical traits of patrimonial bureaucratic structures bearing
theocratic stamps.

Since olden times, to be sure, actual state policy, for reasons
discussed above, had again and again let economic life alone, at
least so far as production and the profit economy were concerned.
This happened in China just as in the ancient Orient—unless new
settlements, melioration through irrigation, and fiscal or military
interests entered the picture. But military interests and interests
in military finance had always called forth liturgical interventions
in economic life. These interventions were monopolistically or
financially determined, and often they were quite incisive. They
were partly mercantilist regulations and partly in the nature of
regulations of status stratification. Toward the end of national
militarism, such planned “economic policy” eventually fell into
abeyance. The government, conscious of the weakness of its ad¬
ministrative apparatus, confined itself to the care of the tide and
the maintenance of the water routes, which were indispensable
for provisioning the leading provinces with rice; for the rest, to
the typically patrimonial policy of dearth and consumption. It
had no “commercial policy” in the modem sense.*^^ The tolls the
mandarins had established along the waterways were, so far as
is known, merely fiscal in nature and never served any economic
policy. The government on the whole pursued only fiscal and
mercantilist interests, if one disregards emergency situations
which, considering the charismatic nature of authority, were
always politically dangerous. So far as is known, the most gran¬
diose attempts to establish a unified economic organisation were

THE LITERATI

» 137 «

planned by Wang An-shih, who during the eleventh century tried
to establish a state trading monopoly for the entire harvest. In
addition to fiscal gains, the plan was intended to serve the
equalization of prices and was connected vidth a reform in land
taxes. The attempt failed.

As the economy was left to itself to a large extent, the aversion
against state intervention” in economic matters became a lasting
and basic sentiment. It was directed particularly against monopo¬
listic privileges,®* which, as fiscal measures, are habitual to
patrimonialism everywhere. This sentiment, however, was only
one among the quite different attitudes which resulted from the
conviction that tire welfare of the subjects was dependent upon
the charisma of the ruler. These ideas often stood in immediated
fashion beside the basic aversion to state intervention, and con¬
tinually, or at least occasionally, made for bureaucratic meddling
in everything, which again is typical of patrimonialism. Moreover,
the administration of course reserved the right to regulate con-
smnption in times of dearth—a policy which is also part of the
theory of Confucianism [as reflected] in numerous special norms
concerning all sorts of expenditures. Above all, there was the
typical aversion against too sharp a social differentiation as de¬
termined in a piu’ely economic manner by free exchange in
markets. This aversion, of course, goes without saying in every
bureaucracy. The increasing stability of the economic situation
under conditions of the economically self-suflBcient and the
socially homogeneously composed world-empire did not allow
for the emergence of such economic problems as were discussed
in the English literature of the seventeenth century. There was
no self-conscious bourgeois stratum which could not be politically
ignored by the government and to whose interests the “pamph¬
leteers” of the time in England primarily addressed themselves.
As always under patrimonial bureaucratic conditions, the ad¬
ministration had to take serious notice of the attitude of the
merchants’ guilds only in a “static” way and when the main¬
tenance of tradition and of the guilds’ special privileges were at
stake. Dynamically, however, the merchant guilds did not enter

» 138 €

THE BELIG1^)X OF CHINA

inLo the balanL'ti, because tbere were no expanisive capltali^ m-
tereste (no longer!) of siiificient sireogUi, as in Eogland, to he
capabb of forcing the state aduiinistTatioa into their service.

s. 5uZ^onf^ amt the Eunudoi an
Political Oftpenents of the Literati

THE total situation of the literati can be undcrstofxl cmlv

when one rutalizes the fDr«« against which they Lad to fight We

disregard the heterodoxies here, for they will be dealt with
below,

^ in e^Iy tow the main ndveisaiies of tlie literati were the
grwt fainUies of the feudal period who did not want to
pushed out of their office monopolies. Having to aoeoinmodate
themselves to the needs of pabimonidism and to tlje superiority
of the kn^Jedge of Script, they found ^vays and means of pavitig
the way for their sons by imperial favor, ^

^en there were the eapitabst purejiasers of offioe: a natural
result of to levehng of status group and of the fiscal money
ci^omy. Here the straggle eould not lead to constant and abso¬
lute success, bnt only to relative success, because every demand

central adminhirntion toward

Th ^ a. the sole means of war finance.

Tnjs held UQtil iiecenf times.

The litemti also had to fight to admmistmtion's rationalist
toterusts m an expert offl^cLJdom. Specialist, expert officials came
to to fore as early as funder Wc^ Ti, During the distress of
to defensn-e Wars m 1063 under Wang An-shih, they cnioved a

STfu^!’

permanent enemy of the
htemti: sultani^ mill the eunuch-system whidi supported it«
Thu influetlce of the harern was therefore viewed with nrotomid
raspiclon by the Confiidans, Without insight into this s-tniggle^
Chinese history cs most difficult to understand "

The cotisUrt rtrogglc of the hie^u a«d .,1;^. baej

THE LITERATI » 139 «

for two inillonnis, bogan under Sliiii Huang Xi. It continued under
all the dynasties, for of course energetic rulers continually sought
to shake o£F their bonds to the cultured status group of the
literati with the aid of eunuchs and plebeian parvenus. Niunerous
hterati who took a stand against this form of absolutism had to
give their lives in order to maintain their status group in power.
But in the long run and again and again the literati won out.®^
Every drought, inundation, eclipse of the sim, defeat in arms,
and every generaUy threatening event at once placed power in
the hands of the literati. For such events were considered the
result of a breach of tradition and a desertion of the classic way
of life, which the literati guarded and which was represented by
the censors and the “Hanlin Academy.” In all such cases “free
discussion” was granted, the advice of the throne was asked, and
the result was always the cessation of the unclassical form of gov¬
ernment, execution or banishment of the eunuchs, a retraction of
conduct to the classical schemata, in short, adjustments to the
demands of the literati.

The harem system was of considerable danger because of the
way in which successorship to the throne was ordered. The
emperors who were not of age were under the tutelage of women;
at times, this petticoat-government had come to be tiie very rule.
The last Empress-Dowager, Tzu Hsi, tried to rule with the aid
of eunuchs.®® We will not discuss at this point the roles which
Taoists and Buddhists have played in these struggles, which run
through aU of Chinese history—why and how far they have been
natural coalitionists, specifically of the eunuchs, and how far
they have been coalitionists by constellation.

Let us mention in passing that, at least by modem Confu¬
cianism, astrology has been considered an unclassical supersti¬
tion.®® It has been thought to compete with the exclusive signifi¬
cance of the emperor s Too charisma for the course of government.
Originally this had not been the case. The departmental
competition of the Hanlin Academy against the board of astrolo¬
gers may have played a decisive part;®^ perhaps also the Jesuit
origin of the astronomic measures had a hand in it.

» 140 «

THE HELlUXOiV OF CHINA

III tbe ccimicHoD of the Confucians, the trust in mugic which
the eunuchs cultivated hrougiit about ail misfortune, Tao Mo in
his Memorial of the year 1901 reproached the Eitupresa tlot in
the year 1875 the true heir to the throue bad been ehmiuated
through her fault and in spite of the censors’ protest, for the
censor VVii Ko-tu bad acknowledged tliis by his suicide. Tao Mo’s
posthumous niemttrial to the Empress and hLi btter to his son
were distinguished by their mady bfiaiity," There cannot be the
slightest doubt of lus sincere and profound conviction. Also the
belief of the Empress and of numerous princes in tic magical
charisma of the Boxers, a belief which alone explains her whole
policy, was ceitainTy to be ascribed to the influence of eunuchs **
On her death bed this impressive woman left as her counsel: (1)
never again to let a woman rule in China, and (2) to abolish
the eunuch system forever."' This counsel was fulfilled in a dif¬
ferent way than she had undoubtedly intended—if tlie report is
accurate. But one may not doubt that for the genuine CoDlucian
everything that has happened since, above all the “revolution” and
the downfall of the dynasty, ouly confirms the correctness of the
belii.f in the sigDificanoe of the charisma of the dyuastys classic
virtue. In the improbable but possible event of a Confueian
restoration, the belief would be exploited in this sense. The Cem-
fucianists. who are ultimately pacifist literati oriented to inner
political welfare, naturally faced militai>' powers with aversion
or with lack of undcretaufling. Wc have already S£X.ken of their
relationship to the officers, and we have seen that the whole
Anriflfs are parodigmaUcaily filled witli it. There are protests to
be found in the Anwib against making '■praetorians" Into eeusoix
(and olEoah).«i As the eunuchs were especially popular as favo¬
rites and generals in the way of Narses, the enmity against the
purely sultamst patrimonial anny Suggested itself. The literati
tMk pnde in having overthrown the popular military usuriier
Wang Mang. The danger of ruling wiUi plebeians lias simply
dways been peat with dictators, yet only diis one attempt is
known in China. The literati, howev'cr, liave submitted to de
facte established power even when it was created purely by

THE LITERATI

141 «

usTirpatioii, cts was tLe power of tlie HaEi^ or by ctniquest^ as was
the power of tLe Mongol Manchus, They submitted even though
they had to make sacrifices—the Manchus look over 50 per cent
of the olfices without having the educational ^qualifications. The
literati have submitted to the mler 1 / the tulet iii tom submitted
to their ritualist aud Dereuionia! demands; only thm, in modem
languagep have they aceommcKlated themselves and taken a
"rcalistie’* stand.

"Constitutionally"—and this was the theory of the Confucians™
the emperor could rule ordij by using certified literati as ollidals;
"classically" he could rule only by using orthodox Crmfucian of¬
ficials. Every deviation frum this rule was thought capable of
bringing disaster and, In case of ohstmacy, the downfall of the
emperor and the min of the dynasty*

CHAPTEH VI

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE
ORIENTATION

1. Bureaucracy and Hierocracy

— osT OS it was spared the power of au iiicreasmgly eiprO’
priatcd fciidalkm or a bourgeois strati im which never developed,
so also patrimoEual biircaiicracy was spared tlie compedtfon of
on autonomous hierocracy. Nothing wliatever is known of so¬
cially powerful prophecy, be it of Middle Eastern, Iranian or
Indian character.^ There were no prophets raising ethical "de¬
mands" in the name of a snpra-mundiuic Godj the nature of
religiosity remained unbroken and precluded the very existence
of such demands. The 23tmtificn], cesoio-papist authori^ liad onlv
feudal lords, not prophets, to fight seriously. The mere thought of
prophets led it to eliminate vjolendy and systematically every
hetcrodo.^ iTiqveinent as heresy.

The Chinese "soul" has never been revolutiojuxed by a
prophcL= There were no "prayers" of private individuals. The
ritualist and literary officeholder and, above all, the emperor
took care of everything, and they alone were able to do so.

Ailing for reservatinns wiRi regard to Taoism, no powerful
priesthood has ever existed so far as is known Iiirtorically. Above
alk there were no independent religious forws to develop a doc¬
trine of salvation nr an autonomous ethic and education. Hence
the iutcUectualisHc rationalism of a s&atnm of offieials could
freely unfold itself; here as elsewhere this tntcllectualism inwardly

* 142 *

THB CONFUCIAN LIFE OniENTATmK » 14S €

dwpised religLons imlcs^ they were needed for the taming the
rntellectiialfsTn allowed the professional religjoiiists oiJy
that measure of o^idal prestige whiqh indispensable for its
tauiing purposes, a prestige which was ixieradioable m the face
of the powerful associatiDDs of local sihs bound by traditfoiL All
further external and internal development^, however, was radically
oit off. The etilt of the great deities of heaven and earthy with
which some deihed hemes and special spirits* were eonneeted,
was an affair of the state. These cults were not maiiiiged by priests
but by the holden) of political power. The one 'lay religiOQ"
prescribed by the state was the belief in the power nf ancestral
spirits aud its cult Ptipular religion otherwise remained, in prin-^
dple* a completely unsystematic pluralism of magicsil and
bcrolstic cuks. Patrimnnfal bureaucnn^', in its rationalism, was
far from seeking to transform systematically these chaotic con¬
ditions which it inwardly dcspixed. The bureaucracy rather ac¬
cepted the situatiorL,

Oq the one hand, when viewed in thn perspective of Confudcm
reasons of state, religion had to be “upheld for the people," The
order of the world, according to a word of the Master, could not
bo malntafned without belief. Therefore, the retention of religious
belief was politically even more imporfant than was the concern
for food- On the other hand the imperial power was the supremo
and religiously consecrated structure; in a sense it stood above the
crowd of popular deities. The emperor s persDiud pisition, as we
have seen, was based exclusively on his charisma as the pleni¬
potentiary (“Son") of Heaven where Ills ancestors resided. But
the veneration and significance of the individual doilies were still
subject to the ebarismatic principle of s^iccess, just lilcc a Nea¬
politan driver's or a boatman‘s Saint. This charismatic character
of the rcL'gion suited officialdom's interest in self-pieservatimi+
For any evil which befell tlie couuLry did nut disavow officialdom
per se, lint at most the individual official and the individual em¬
peror whose divine legitimation appeared to be forfeited; other¬
wise it disavowed the special deily'. By the special and irratiDnal
anchorage of the mundane orders, an optimal fusion was effected

» 144 * THE RELIGION OF CHINA

between the legitimate power of officialdom and the supra-
mundane powers minimally represented on earth; for independ¬
ently the latter might conceivably compete with officialdom.

Any ration aluation of popular belief as an independent re¬
ligion of supra-mundane orientation would inevitably have con¬
stituted an independent power opposed to officialdom. This
exigency repeatedly made itself felt in the resolute resistance of
the officials toward any attempt to loosen a stone in this historic
edifice.

Chmese lan^age has no special word for “religion." There was
first: “doctrine”—of a school of literati; second: “rites”—without
distinguishing whether they were religious or conventional in
nature. The official Chinese name for Confucianism was “doctrine
of the Literati” (ju chiao).

Whether magical or cultic in nature, religion remained of a
this-wordly turn of mind. This attitude was far stronger and
more principled than is usually the rule. The hope for long life
played a major role in the very cults which, besides the state cult
of the great spirits, were the most favored ones. It is possible that
the original meaning of every concept of “deity” in China has
rested in the belief that the men of greatest perfection have suc¬
ceeded in eluding death and in living forever after in a realm of
bliss^ In any case, in general, it may be said that the orthodox
Confucian Chinese, but not the Buddhist, performs his rites for
the sake of his fate in this world-for long life, children wealth
and to a verjr slight degree for the good of the ancestors, but not
at all for the sake of his fate in the “hereafter.” This is in sharp
contrast with the Egyptian care of the dead which was wholly
onented toward man's destiny in the hereafter. For a long time
It was the unofficial but prevailing view of the enlightened Con-
nicians that after death the soul evaporated, flew away in the
mist, or otherwise perished.

doctrine was supported fay Wang Ch’ung’s authority and,
as ms been said, his concept of God was inconsistent. God, ac-
cordmg to him, must not be conceived in anthropomorphic te’rms.
Yet God IS ^ody, a shapeless fluid into which the essentiaUy

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE OHIENTATIOK » 145 m

sbiiikr tiimnn spirit merges at death, and death is aij ertmetton
of the uidi>idiiaJ pcrsouality.

Trhe definitive disetppearauce of ideas o! a persona] God and
of immoitality was attained by the matcrialiiit and atheist Chu-
Fii-tini during the twelfth cculiuy. This did not prevent the
emergence of later ortliodar philosophers who believed in a per¬
sonal God. Still official Confuciaiiisni, which was articulated in
the sacred edict of hmperor K ang Hsi in the seveiiteentb centurVi
has retained the materialist and atheist standpoint mctiticined
before.

In Coufudanfsm there prevailed, allyway^ an absolutely ag¬
nostic and essentially negalive mood opposed to all hopes for a
beyond. Even where this stand had not permeated or where it
was outweighed by Taoist or Buddhist mfiuenccs (to he dis¬
cussed below) the interest in man's fate in the Iwyond remained
quite subordinate to the possible inJlnence of the spirits uu life
here and now.

The "Messianic" hope for a this-worldly Savlor-Empcrur is
found in Chino, as in ahnost all ptrimoiUal associations.^ But
this hoiic is not hope for an absolute utopia, as was the case in
Israel.

In (he ah.senee of any other eschatology or doctrine of salva¬
tion, or any striving for transcendental ^ues and destinies, the
reli^ous policy of the state remained simple in fonn. In part, the
policy was to transfer the management of the cult to the state; in
part, it was a policy of tolerating the private jiractitjoners of
magic inherited from the past and indispensable to tlic ]>rivate
citizen.

The state cult was deliberately sober and plain; it consisted of
sacrifice, ritualist prayer, music, and rhythmic daiav- . Obviously
all orgiastic elements were strictly ami mtCDtionally climiuated.
Tills held also for official pentatonic music. In the ofticTal cult
almost all ecstasy and ascetJdsm, as well as coutempbtion,^ were
absent and were considered elements of disorder and Irrational
ei;citemcul. Tlus, biireaucratic rationalism could not stand and
deemed it as dangerous as tbe Roman unbility of oBicc considered

» 146 c the religion of china

the cult of Dionysos. OflScial Confucianism, of course, lacked in¬
dividual prayer in the occidental sense of the word and knew
only ritual formula. The master, when sick, is said to have de¬
clined prayers on his behalf and it is reported that he had not
prayed for long years.^ However, the prayers which princes and
high ofiBcials said for the good of the political association have
always been cherished as effective up to the very present.

Confucianism, for these reasons, necessarily lacked the notion
that men are differently qualified in a religious way, and beyond
these reasons Confucianism was indifferent to religion. Hence,
any religious idea differentiating a “state of grace” was absent.
The very concept had to remain unknown to Confucianism.

The patrimonial bureaucracy was politically antagonistic to
feudalism and to any status structure based on descent. This
antagonism was correspondingly found in classical Confucian
ethical theory in which the principled equality of man was pre¬
supposed. This assumption was not primitive in origin, as we
have seen above.

The feudal period rested upon the idea of the charismatic
difference between the “noble” sibs and the people. The rule
of the hterati created the sharp cleavage between the educated
Md the uneducated or “stupid people” (yu min), as the founder
of the Ming dynasty called them during the fourteenth century.
Official theory, however, maintained that not birth but education,
in principle accessible to all, should be decisive. “Equality” did
not, of course, mean unconditional equality in all natural endow¬
ments. One man might weU have “greater” natural disposition
for doing what another could do only by exertion. But everybody
could at least attain what was demanded by Confucian bureau¬
cratic reasons-of-state and social ethics-an ethic which never
reached for the stars.

Given a good state administration, then, every man had to
s^ch for the reasons of external or internal success or failure
wthm hunself. Man was good; evil was internalized from without
through the senses; and differences in quality were differences
in the harmomc development of the individual, a view which

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 147 «

ch^ctemtically followed upon the absence of a supra-mundane
deity. These ideas, moreover, reflected the status conditions in
toe patrimonial state. The cultured man, to be sure, wished to
have his name honored after death but only for reasons of per¬
sonal merit ^

2. Absence of Natural Law and
Formal Logic of Legal Thought

IN PRINCIPLE, living conditions alone differentiated people.
Identical economic position and education made for essentiaUy
identic^ character. To anticipate: in sharp contrast to the unani¬
mous view of all Christian confessions, material wealth was not
ethically considered a primary source of temptation though, of
course, temptations were recognized. Rather, wealth was held to
be the most important means for promoting morals. We shall
learn the reasons below.

On the other hand, in terms of natural law, no sphere of per¬
sonal liberty was sanctioned. The very word “liberty” was foreign
to toe lan^age. This can readily be explained from the natme
of the patrimonial state and from liistorical vestiges.

Acfeally private property in goods was the one institution
which was fairly weU fenced in. But this institution emerged after
long periods of liturgically negating the private sphere, and it was
not guaranteed in the occidental sense. For the rest, there were
no legaUy guaranteed liberties. ActuaUy “private property” in
goods was only relatively secure, and it did not enjoy that nimbus
of sanctity found, for instance, in the statements of CromweU
against the Levellers.®

Patrimoniahst theory, to be sure, held that the emperor could
be no ones guest and that the superior oflScial could not be the
guest of the subordinate since all possessions of toe inferior be¬
longed rightfully to the superior. This, however, had essentially
no more than ceremonial significance. On occasion the authori¬
ties interfered severely with the tillage and distribution of land,
mostly for plain fiscal reasons. However, among other things, for

> 14S €

THE KELICION 07 CMINA

teiiturics these interferences hat! animated the ninibu-i gf the
semi-legendary c/tfng-f’ien system with its ijatrinioniaUv regulated

“right to the land."

Interest in mtUntamijig social txanquiliity led to the predilection
for the most equal distributioa of property possible which in tum
was expressed in such ideals as a subsistence economy. In the
interest of preventing a dearth of fond, the subsistence economy
was dovetailed with a storage policy in the Egyptian manner. The
ideal of patrimomahsm in this field, as in others, was snbstantii'e
Justice not formal law. Hence, property and income remained, on
die one band, probtems of practical expediency and, on the other
hand, problems of aodal-ethical concern for feeding the mass es .
T^s inniit not be understood in the occidental scnsc of an in¬
dividualist social ctldc of natural law which odginated in modern
tunes precisely out of the tcmiion between fiirmal law and sub¬
stantive justice. For in tJieir view, understandably, tlie educated
and tbe niling strata should also be the wealthiest strata. Still tlie
ult^atc goal was to have property os widely distributed as pos-
sioJe in the interest of universal couleiiiment

A divine, unchangeable law of nature existed only in the foim
of saaed ceremonies, the magical efficacy of which had been
tested smee timo immemorial, and in the form of sacred duties
tow^d the ancestral spirits. A development of uatnral law of
modern occidental stamp, among other things, would havo pre-

^Pfwed a rationalization of the exisliiig law which the Occident
had io tilt? form of iiornaji law*

Roman law, however, was W a product of autonomous urban
feiriness hfe which required fixed schemata of complaint; second,
of the nihoiializatioii through the juridital technobev of the
Rorrem notables; and third, the rationali7.ation of the bureaiirracy
Or the Eastern Ronmi Empire* ^

In no estate of jurists cxb^tod because there u™ no ad«
vo^teship in the occidental sense. It was absent because the
pa^omaL^ of tbe Chinese welfare state, with its we,ifc office

w‘w7'shm iT'development of secular
law. We should add to what was said earlier that local custom

the CONkuCIAN LjfE 0HTENTATI0!» » 249 *

held eve .1 mntfn le^em ly virtue of tlie priucipJ.i ‘’arbitrtirmLSs
cxiaiTuon hw" bricht Ltiudrecf>t}. Furthermore,

the CbmKe jud^, a tj^ical patrijiiomal judge, dischoreed husi-
ncsi in thoroughly patriarchal fashion. That is, insofar £ he was
given l^way by sacred tradition Lc precisely did not adfudicatc
a^-ordmg to fomml rules and “without regard to persois," Just

concrete qualities and in terms of the concrete situatiem nr ac*

Tte^Solo r of the concrete result.

Tbs Scl^^onic Cadi-jusUce also lacked a sacred book of laws

wa£« The systematic imperii] coUectinn of laws

was ci^nsidcred m^olnte ouly insofar as it was supported by
compcJlmg magical tradition. ^

Under such conditions the tension between sacred ami secular
aw ^ competely absent, a tension which exists in the Ocetd^^

thn M- f Antiquity, especially Stoicism, and of

ntt 'fi'" presupposed what evidendy could

not emerge m r^nfuciamsm. This whs the tension between phi-

osopbcal j reh^ous postulates and the Vorld- which resulted

lth?«T * Z'' prerequisite

tlonfuciLsm.

Oiir modem occidental mtiouali^abon of law has been the
residt of two forties operaUng side by aide. On the one hand
capitalism was mteicsted in strictly formal law and IkesI nro^
^ure. It Ujas interested in having law function in a predirtSile
^ machhieQr. On die other liand, the

rabo^bm of officialdom in absolutist states led In the interest
m codified systems and in homogeneous law to be handled bv a
Tatanally trained bureaucracy striving for equal, interlocal op,
portumbes of pnimobon. No modern system of kw has cmereed
wh^oim of these two forces was lacking. Modem capitalismf as
IS sho^ by Aiiglo,Saxoa common law, could indeed prosper on
the sod of an unsyst^atic law guaranteeing the autonomy of the
economically jiower^ stratum. It was a law that lacked a strict

> 150 *

THE fiELlClUN OF CHINA

logieo-legal ardcubtiou but wau fonnal kw created by a dass
of la^vj'ers whose mode of legal thought was conditioned by
Homan and Canonical law. FonnaJly, on the other hand, nation¬
alist bureaucracy had a heartfelt mtciest in the compendious col¬
lection of statutes, in the ubirjmhms employability of the ofliAiai
in homogeneous law, above all, in the paiamountcy of auLborita-
tlve enactment over inviolate tratlitinn and over Ihu arbitrary
autonomy of locally and sodalJy differentiated kw. Bureaucrae-y,
wberevHST it held sway alone, was not only interested in the
juridied perfection of legal forms but rather in their substantive
"justice" which alone could correspond to ilie immanent edios of
bureaucrac)'.

Bureaucracy has Substantively nitlonalked and systematized
law unless cheched by eoononucally iMweiful capitalist interests
OT a socially powerhil estate of jtirnits. Otherwise bureaucracy bne
destroyed forma] juristic technology which is indilTcrent to sub-
active "/ustice.*’ Chinese patrimonialism, after the unification of
the empir^ had neither to redton with powerful and indomitable
capitalist mtcrusk nor with an autonomous estate of jurists. But
ft had to take account of the sanctity of tradition which alono
gua^teed the Je^timacy of patrlmoniabsm; and it had to realka
the limCted iDteo^ity of its administrative organizatioii. Therefore
not only did formal jurisprudence fail to develop, but a systematic’
substantive, and thorough rationalization of bw was never at¬
tempted. In general, the administration of law retaintid the nature
which usually ^aracterlzes theoeratie welfare justice. TIhis a
juristic, theological, and philo.-i(iphlcal nogic" failed to develop.

3. Absence of Natural Sciences

SVSTEMATIC and naturalist thought also failed to mature. Oc¬
cidental natural science, with its mathematical foundation is a
combnmtion of rational forms of tlicmght grown on the soil of
ana™t phfiosophy and the tcelmical "cAperiment" which origi¬
nated on the soil of the Renaissance. The specifically modem

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 151 «

element of all naturalist disciplines did not first develop in the
field of science but in art. The “experimentinggreat art of the
Renaissance was the child of a umque blend of two elements: the
empmcal skiU of occidental artists based on craftsmanship, and
Aeir histoncally and socially detennined rationalist ambition.
They sought eternal significance for their art and social prestige
or themselves by raising art to the level of “science.” The latter
pomt was specific to the Occident Here also was the strongest
mc«nbve for a return” to Antiquity, as this was understood. Be¬
sides the type represented by Leonardo, music, especially six¬
teenth century music with its experimental keyboards (Zarlino)
was central to to fremendous endeavor which operated with the
ch^actenshcaUy Renaissance artistic concept of “nature.” Spe¬
cial TOnditions for the highly competitive elaboration of artistic
practice came into play as in Antiquity.

Econormc and technological interests of the Northern Euro-
pean economy, above all, the needs of the mining industry as¬
sisted mteUectual forces in transferring the experiment to the
natural sciences. Details are out of place here.

In its masterly refinement Chinese art lacked aU these under-
stTOd mcentives to rationalist ambition. Under the conditions of
pati^omal bureaucracy, the contest of the ruling stratum was
^charged entirely into competition among prebendary and
depee-hunting literati and aU other pursuits were stifled.

Moreover the relatively slight development of industrial
capitalism did not allow the emergence of those economic
prenuums which were necessary for the transition from empirical
to rational technology.® Thus all remained sublimated empiricism.
Consequently, practical rationalism, the intrinsic attitude of
imea^acy to life, free of all competition, could work itself out
fully. There was no rational science, no rational practice of art
no rabonal theology, jurisprudence, medicine, natural science or
ec o ogy; there was neither divine nor human authority which
could contest the bureaucracy. Only an ethic congrurat with
bureaucracy could be created and this was limited solely by con-

» 252

I'HE REI.1GION or CHINA

sidenitioii of the forces of tradition in the sibs iind by die belief
in spirits. UnliJi^e! Western civilization, ihere were no other spe¬
cifically mixlem elEmiiuts of rationalism stonduig either in com-
petitluii or in support of bureaucracy. Western culture in China
was grafted upon a base xvhich^ in the West, had been essentEoUy
ttvercoine with the devdopjnent of the ancient polis. Hence* the
culture of this biireaucnicy can lie considered an experiment
which approximately tests the practical rationalism of government
by office prebendaries and ibc effnets. Orliiodox Confnciaiusm
resulted Irom this situatioi].

The rule of orthodoxy followed from the unify of the thet>cratic
world empire and its authoiitative regulation of doctrine^ During
the Period nf the Warring States with its violent struggles wc find
mobile intellectual currents contesting for dominance just as in
the pohs-culturc of occidental Antiquity. Chinese philosophy, in
all its contrast, was developed roughly during the same span nf
time as the philosophy of Antiquity, Since the urnfication, at
about the beginning of the Cliri.^tian era* no enrirely independent
thinker has appeared. Only Confucians, Taoists, and Buddhists
continued tlie struggles. Within the recognized or licensed Con-
Fucian doctrine there remained the struggles of philosophieiil and
their refitted admlnistrative-politicul schools. The nde of the
Manchn dcfiuitivcly canonized Confucian orthodoxy.

4. The Nature of ConfucUtm^

CONFUClAMSMp like Buddlusirg consistod only of ethics and
ill this eonesponds to the Indian fiftflrxno. However^ in

sharp contrast to Buddhism, Confucianism exclusively repre¬
sented an mncrworldly morality of laymen. Conhiclanlsm meant
adjustment to the world, to its orders and couventious. Ultimately
it represented just a tremetidons c^xle of political maxims and
rules of social propriety for cultured men of the world. This was
in still greater contrast to Buddhism.

The ooxmjc orders of the world were considered fixed and in-

TUP. CONFUCIAN I^tFE OflIEKTATION > 153 <

violate and the orders of society were bn I a spedal ca^e of this.
The greet spirits of the cosoiic orders obviously desired oidy the
happiutiss of ihe world and espeoieUy the happiness of man. The
same applied to the orders of sodety. The ^happy*^ tranquillity of
the empire aiu J the equilihriiun of the soul should and could he
attained only if man £tted himself tulo the internally harmonious
cosmos* If nma m tlie iiidmdual case did not succeed, human
uurcasuiiahlenass and, above aU, disorderly leader?rhip of state
and society were to be blamed. Thu 5 ^ in a nineteenth century
edict the pruvnienco of bad winds in n province was traced to
neghgence in certain police duties, namely, in surrendeilng sus¬
pects and unduly drawing out trials. This had censed the spirits
to bec!ome restless.

The charismatie eonccptimi of imperial prerogative and the
identity of order in the cosmos and in society determined these
basic presuppositions. Every thing depended upon the behavior
of the officlab and these men were responsible for tlie leadership
of a society which was conceived es one large^ patrimonially ruled
community. The monarch ^should deal with the uneduo-alcd mass
of the i>eoplc as children. His prtrnaij^ duties were to <^re for
officialdom materially and spirituaJly and to maintain good and
respeetlul rnlatiimK with themn

The individual best served Heaven by developing hfs buie
nature for in tliijs way the good mthJn every man would nnfaib
ingly appear* Thus, eveiyiiiLng was an educational problem and
the educational aim was the devdopment of the self from one^s
natural endowment. There was no radical evil.

One has to go back to tlie third century b.c, to find philosophers
who taught the heterodox doctrine of the original wickedness of
man.'^ There were only faults and thcNc were the result of dc-
£eient educatfem. Certainly the world, the social world in par¬
ticular, was* as it were, just os imjierfLrct as man. Evil demons
existed alongside the good spirits but, given respectively the
educational level of man and the charismatic ipiatity of the ruler,
the world was as gotHi as could be. The order of the world re*

y, 154^

THE nELIClON OF CHINA

suited from tbo uaLunil dovolopmifut uf culfum] n^L-ds and the
umvoidable division of labor^ which m turn led to collision of
interests. According to the Masters realtsUc conceptioas, the
basic impulses of human conduct were economic and sesual^
Hence^ creaturol wickedness and a ‘"state of sin” were not neces¬
sary r^scfons citliLT for coercive p€nver {jr social subordinatioDd
The latter were considered simply as the economic state of affairs
where means of subsistence were scarce in relaLion to ever-grow¬
ing needs. Without coercive power a war of all against all would
result Therefore, the coercive order per se, the dLfferentiab'on of
property^ and the struggles of cconoiuic mterests were not^ in
piinciple^ problems at alL

Although the school developed a cosmogony, Ck^nfudanism
was in la^o measure bereft of metaphysica] interest. The scien-
tifio claims of tbo school wer« no less modest The development
of matbematies had progressed to trigonomeLry^^-but this sotm
decayed because it was not used.^* Confucius evidently had no
Jenowiedge of the precession of the equinoxes^^ w^luch had been
known in the Middle East for a long tinie^ The office of the court
BatToncmiRr, that is the calendar maker, must be EiLstingiushed
from the court astrologer who was both an annalist and an tn-
Hucntkl adviser. The former was a canier of secret knowiedge
and his office was hereditarily transmittefl. But relevant knowl¬
edge can hardly have developed, witness the great success of the
Jesuits' European mstruenents. Natural sdence as a ivhole re¬
mained purely empIricaL Only quotations seem to have been
preserved from the old botanical, that is pharmactdogical work,
allegedly the work of on emperor.

The historical disciplines benefited from the importance given
to early times. The archeological contributions seem to have
flourished during the tenth and twelfth centuries as did the art
of aimalism soon after, fn vain Wang An'ShiL altempted to create
an esiato of pnofessfoual jurists to occupy the offices. For orthodox
Confucianism took no interest in any but purely antiquarian or
purely practical subjects. (This statement will be qualified in
Chapter Vll.)

Tlit CONFUOIAN ORIENTATION » 155 %

5. Fre€di>m from Metuphyfiic^^
ntid hmertoorhlly Nature of ConfueUini^

THE CONFUCIANS, in principle, doubted tlie reality wf magic
es little ail did the Cbristians, and Purltims. Witches were
ako burned in New EnglEuid, but magli; liad uu .sigiiiEcance: for
salvation and that was important. The Rabbis maintained that
“For Israel the stars are not decisive,* mid dins astTiilogical de¬
termination was powerless before Yahwe's will for the pious; Con¬
fucianism correspondingly maintained that magic was powerless
In the face of virtue. He who lived the classical way of life need
not fear the spirits; only lack of virtue in high places gave [mwer
to the spirits.

Moreover,. Confucianism was completely distanced from the
liuddhist Saint s contemplation and its Taoist imitators. Tradition
makes the Master reject “iMng in hiding and performing miiaeles
in Order to win fame anmng later generations,* which Is not with¬
out polemical point against Lao-Ws mystical Taoism. Tim atti¬
tude toward some of the great Cnnhician sages of the past, who
flcfording to tradition withdrew into solitude, to be sure, became
somewhat twisted. It w^as held that tine might withdraw only
from a poorly governed state. For the rest, the Master occasionally
promised the gift of knowing the future aa a rifward of virtuous
pcrlcetion, the niily turn of phrase which indicates mystical foun¬
dations. Upon closer observation one notices that only the ability
to interpret omnia correctly was Tneant. This w'as said in order
nnt to lag behind the prtrfesslonal divinatoiy priesis. The one
Messfanlst hope was for a futiije model emperor. This hope, as
mKntionod abov'o, was diffused oU over the world and was of
popular origin. It was neither rejected nor touched by Con-
ruciauism^ After this fain' talc of a model emperor had been ac¬
cepted, it was elaborated that he %vas to be preceded by a
phoenbt+^^ Confucianism was only inierested in affairs of thija
world such a.s it happened to be,

» 156 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

6. The Central Concept
of Propriety

THE conventionally educated man will participate in the old
ceremonies with due and edifying respect. He controls all his
activities, physical gestures, and movements as well with polite¬
ness and with grace in accordance with the status mores and the
commands of “propriety,” a basic concept (I) of Confucianism.
The sources like to dwell on describing the Master as one who
moved about with perfect elegance, a man of the world who
knew how to greet all participants according to rank and accord¬
ing to the most intricate forms of etiquette. “Cultivated man,”
“princely,” or “noble” man is a central concept which recurs in
many transmitted statements of the Master. He is a man who is
both inwardly and in relation to society harmonically attuned and
poised in all social situations, be they high or low; he behaves
accordingly and without compromising his dignity. Controlled
ease and correct composure, grace and dignity in the sense of a
ceremonially ordered court-salon characterize this man.

In contrast to the passion and ostentation of the feudal warrior
in ancient Islam we find watchful self-control, self-observation,
and reserve. Above all, we find repression of all forms of passion,
including that of joy, for passion disturbs the equilibrium and the
harmony of the soul. The latter is the root of all good. However,
detachment does not, as in Buddhism, extend to all desire but to
all irrational desire, and it is not practiced as in Buddhism for
the sake of salvation from the world but for the sake of integra¬
tion into the world. Confucian ethic, of course, had no idea of sal¬
vation. The Confucian had no desire to be “saved” either from
the migration of souls or from punishment in the beyond. Both
ideas were unknown to Confucianism. The Confucian wished
neither for salvation from life, which was aflSrmed, nor salvation
from the social world, which was accepted as given. He thought
of prudently mastering the opportunities of this world through
self-control. He desired neither to be saved from evil nor from a
fall of man, which he knew not. He desired to be saved from

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 157 «

nothing except perhaps the undignified barbarism of social rude¬
ness. Only the mfraction of piety, the one basic social duty, could
constitute “sin” for the Confucian.

7. Piety

FEUDALISM rested on honor as the cardinal virtue, patrimo-
niahsm on piety. The rehabihty of the vassal’s allegiance was
based upon the former; the subordination of the lord’s servant
and ofiBcial was based upon the latter. The difiFerence is not a con¬
trast but a shift of accent. The vassal of the Occident “com¬
mended” himself and too, like the Japanese vassal, he had duties
of piety. The free o£5cial also has a status honor which must be
counted as a motive of conduct. This was identical in China and
in the Occident, but in contrast to the Middle East and Egypt
where ofiBcials rose from a state of slavery. Everywhere the rela¬
tionship of the oflScer and ofBcial to the monarch retains certain
feudal traits. Even today the oath which is rendered personally to
the monarch is characteristic of this relationship. Monarchs
usually emphasize these elements of the official relation for
dynastic reasons; the officials do so out of status interests. Residues
of feudalism still inhere rather strongly in Chinese status ethics.
Piety (hsiao) toward the feudal lord was enumerated along with
piety toward parents, superiors in the hierarchy of office, and
officeholders generally, for the identical principle of hsiao applied
to all of them.

In substance, feudal allegiance was transferred to the patronage
relationships of officials. And the basic character of allegiance was
patriarchical, not feudal. The absolutely primary virtue, con¬
stantly inculcated in children, was filial piety toward parents.*®
In case of conflict, piety preceded all other virtues.**

In a statement of the Master, praise is given to a high official
who continued to tolerate indisputable abuses out of piety and in
order not to disavow his father. He tolerated them because his
father had done so when occupying the same position. However,
this is in contrast to a paragraph of the Shu Ching which tells’

» 15S «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

\m\v tliL* emperor coDtiDucs a sod io bis fathers office th^it be
might compensate for bis father's trespasses.^* Nm mmi s conduct
met the test of the Master udUI hJs of mourning his parents
was observed. In a patrimonial state whert filial piety was tratts-
fcircd to all relations of subordination^ it can be readily nntier-
stood that an official—and Cuufuciiis for a time was a minister—
would wnsider EJial piety ns the virtue from which hU tftiieis
issuOn Ffflal piety was held to pnivide the test and guarantee of
adlicreucc to unconditiona] discipline^ the most Important ^itatus
obligation of biireaucraLy.

The 5OcioJogiC0.11y basic change of the army from the eombat
of herotHf to disciplined formations was consummated In China
in prC'historic timeSr The universal belief in the oiriai|.X)teDOC of
discipline Is found fn very old anecdotes and was firmly estab¬
lished even among tlie t.^iiteinporaries ol Confucius. “Insubordi'’
nation is worse than low thinking^ Thus "extravagance," that is
to say lavisli exj^enditurc, is worse than ihrift. The reverse, how¬
ever^ also holds; thrift leads to “low" nr plt^beian thinking wbiidi
is unbecoming to a cultured man's station. Therefore, thrift mast
not be positively valued. We see ifiat tlie Httitnde toward things
economic, here as in every statn.s ethio. Is a problem of consump¬
tion and not of work. It is not worth while for a “superior" man tc
leam economic managemEnti actually it is not proper for him
to do so. This does not result from a principled rejection of
wealth per on the contrary, a wcll'^adininistErEri state fa the
state In which people are ashamed of their poverty. In a poorly
administered state people axe ashamed of their wealth which in
some cases might have been dishonestly acquired in office. There
were ody reservations concerning the acquisition of wealth.
EcDDomic literature was a literature of imndarins.

The ethic of Confudanlsm, like every buieaucratic ethic, re¬
jected the direct or Indirect participation of officials in profitable
enterprise. This was regarded as morally dubious and unbcoom-
ing to One's station. The more the ofilclal actually had to depend
upon Ejqilniting his iiffice poisititm the more was this Insisted upon.
HJs income was not high and was, os in Autiquity, fncxime in Idnd.

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 159 «

However, this neither feudal nor ascetic but utilitarian ethic has
developed no principled anti-chrematistic theories. On the con¬
trary, Confucianism has produced theories of supply and demand,
of speculation and profit, which sound very modem. In contrast
to the Occident the profitability of money went without saying,
and theory apparently knew no barriers to interest. Interest, in
Chinese as in Greek, is called the “infant” of capital. Certain im¬
perial statutes, to be sure, rejected certain kinds of “usury.” But
the capitahst, as a privately interested man, was not to become an
ofiBcial and the educated literati were to stay away from chrema-
tistics. Where social doubts about the profit motive per se
emerged they were essentially political in nature.

8. The Confucian Attitude toward the

Economy and Confucianism^s Rejection
of the Professional Expert

THE Master considered acquisitiveness a source of social unrest.
Obviously, he meant the rise of the typical, pre-capitalist class
conflict between the interests of the buyers or the monopolists and
the consumers^ interests. Naturally, Confucianism was predomi¬
nantly oriented toward a consumers’ policy. Still hostihty toward
economic profit was quite remote, as it was also in the popular
mind. Extortionist and unfair ofiBcials, especially tax and other
petty officials, were bitterly chastized on the stage, but not much
seems to have been made of the accusations or mockery of
merchants and usurers. The hostile wrath of Confucianism toward
Buddhist monasteries led to Emperor Wu Tsungs campaign of
annihilation in the year 844. But Confucianism primarily justified
itself by the argument that the monasteries distracted people from
useful work. Actually, as we have seen, “currency policy” played
a role in this.

Economic activity is highly appreciated throughout orthodox
literature. Confucius, too, might strive for wealth, “even as a
servant, with whip in hand,” if only the success of the endeavor
were fairly guaranteed. But the guarantee does not hold and this

260 m

THE HELlCit^N OF CHINA

fact leads to the one reidly essentia] I'esewation conoeming eeo-
nomip acfjuisitivemiss: namely^^ tlip puise and haimrmy of the
soul are shaken by the risks of acquisiti^^eness. '1 hus, the position
of till: ol£cc prebendary appcar.'i lu etlirL:a]ly hallowed form. It Is
the one position becoming to a superior man because the office
alone allows for the pciEectioa of personality. Meneins reasons
that widitnit permanent income the^ educated man can be of
constant mind only with difEculty, Q^d the people not at ah.
EconnmicT Tneiliual^ priestly income represent the path.*

This leads to professiottal specialisation, a very important point
and closely connected with wlmt ha^ been said abnve^ The cul¬
tured man^ however, strives for that universality which in the
Confucian sense education alone provides and wlnth the offic^e
precLsely Fcc|uires. This view dmractrriTjes the absence of rational
Specialization in the official functions of the patrimonial state.
Yet, as in politics Waag An-shih^s attoniptud reform iniiicated
specialization so in htorature it was recommended that spe-
cialii^.cd cempetcnciefl of officiAlN in the modem bureaucratic
manner replace the traditional universality of official business
which no single meji could possibly master*

The old educationnl idnal of the Chinese^ however^ Stood In
sharp contrast to these functional demands and, concomitantly,
to the execution of a ftmetional adminhdmtive mtionalizatiDn in
the manner of oiir Eumpean mechanisms.

The Cenfudon aspirant to office, stemming fn>m the old tradi¬
tion, could hardly help viewing a specialized, professional train¬
ing of European stamp as anything but a coudititming in the
dirtiest Philistinism,^*^ lids was undoubtedly the locus of much
nf the Important resistance to "refomi'* in the occidental sense.
The fuudamental assertion, cultured man is not a tool" meant
that he was on em! in himself and not just a means for a specihed
useful purpose, 'ihe all-round eduiatcd Confudan '"gentleman ”
as Dvofak has tiatislated the term chiin-izUf or the "princely man,"
supported a status idea! of cultivation tliat wjis directly opposed
to the socially oriented Platonic ideal i
The Platonic ideal was established On the soil of the polls and

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 161 «

proceeded from the conviction that man can attain fulfillment by
being good at only one task. There was even stronger tension
between the Confucian ideal and the vocational concept of ascetic
Protestantism.

Confucian virtue, based upon universality or self-perfection,
was greater than the riches to be gained by one-sided thorough¬
ness. Not even in the most infiuential position could one achieve
anything in the world without the virtue derived from education.
And vice versa, one could achieve nothing, no matter what one’s
virtue, without influential position. Hence, the “superior” man
coveted such a position, not profit.

Such, in brief, are the basic propositions concerning the atti¬
tude to vocational life and property, generally ascribed to the
Master.

9. The Gentleman Ideal

THE Confucian attitude toward vocational life and possessions is
opposed to that feudal enjoyment of lavish expenditure promi¬
nent in statements of the prophet in early Islam, and it is op¬
posed to the Buddhist rejection of attachment to worldly goods.
It is opposed to the strictly traditionalist, vocational ethic of
Hinduism and to the Puritan hallowing of inner-worldly ascetic
and profitable work in a rationally specialized vocation. If, for
once, we may disregard this fundamental contrast, there are all
sorts of particularized affinities to be found between Confucianism
and the sober rationalism of Puritanism.

The princely man avoids the temptations of beauty. As the
Master correctly said, “No man loves virtue as one loves a beau¬
tiful woman.”^® According to tradition, the jealous neighboring
prince had pressured the Master out of his position with the
prince of Lu by donating to the overlord of Lu a collection of
beautiful girls which gave the morally ill-advised prince greater
pleasure than did the doctrines of his political father-confessor.
In any case, Confucius viewed woman as a thoroughly irrational
creature often as difficult to deal with as servants.^^ Condescen-

»ie2

THE BELlGlON OF CHINA

sion makes botlt women and servoats forget tlicir distance, strict*
ness in turn nutkes them ill-huniored. The Buddhist horror of
women, which was determined by flight from die w’orld, thus
found its ooiinterpart in Confuciaiiism's lack of esteem for women,
determined by mtioual sobriety. Confuciftolsiii has, of course,
never considered outlawing conotibmes who were necessarily ac-
ceptid along with the legitiuiatn wife for the sake of producing
descendants. The rejieatedly mentioned cartel of the feudal
princes was directed solely against giving the sons of ooncubincs
equal rights as heirs, and the stniggle against the iUegitiEnate in-
fiuenees of the harem cloaked itself as a struggle against the
threatening predominanee of the Yfn (feminine) substance over
the Yang (masculine) substance.

Constancy ui friendship is highly praised. Man needs friends,
but One should select friends from one's peers. To status inferiors
benevolent Idadoess should be extended. For the rest, ah etliics
in this sphere go hack to the principled inutnali^’ of the neigh*
borhood association of peasants, *'! shall do unto you as you do
unto me." That is die "reciprocity" which die Master, when ques*
tioned, presented as the very fomukition of social ethics.

However, the love of oocs enemy among ihe i^dical mystics
(Lao-tzu, Mo Ti) was decidedly rejected as ninning eoimter to
fmidamenbd state interests. Justice toward enemies, love for
friends-what in addition could one offer friends were one to offer
love to ones enemies? All in all, the cultured gentleman of Con¬
fucianism was a man who oombined “benevolence" with "cDcrgy,"
and "knowledge’* with “frankness.” All this, however, was d^
limited by "judidnus caution" which the mmm oTr man lacked,
wherafnre ho was denied the path to the "coiTOct middle." More¬
over, what gave this ethie iLs special stamp was that everydiing
was to proceed within the conines of social propriety. For only
the -sense of proprie^ molds the "princely* nun, into a “person-
aht)'" in the Cloufudan sense. Therefore, the bairkr to the car¬
dinal virtue nf frankness WS the command of propriety. Not only
duties of piety had an imcoirdidunal precedence (a fib was
permissible for reasmw of piety} but social proprieties had

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 163 €

precedence, too, according to the Masters practice and as trans¬
mitted by tradition. “Where we are three I find my master,” Con¬
fucius has allegedly said, which meant, I bow to the majority. He
selected the classical writings according to this “propriety.” Ssu-
ma Ch’ien presumably knew of 3,000 (?) Shi Ching odes from
which Confucius is said to have selected 306 odes.

Perfection could be reached only by imceasing study, and that
meant hterary studies. The “princely” man reflects and “studies”
everything incessantly and anew. Allegedly ninety year old candi¬
dates were by no means rare at ofiBcial state examinations. Still
this incessant study consisted of the mere assimilation of existing
ideas. According to a communication ascribed to him, the Master
even in old age tried vainly to create from his own mind only to
fall back again upon reading. In his view, unless one read, the
mind operated in neutral gear as it were. The phrase “concepts
without percepts are empty” was replaced by “thought without
reading is sterile.” For without study, as was said, the quest for
knowledge squanders inteUigence, benevolence makes for stu¬
pidity, candor for injudiciousness, energy for rudeness. Audacity
leads to insubordination, and firmness of character leads to er-
raticism. The “correct middle,” which for this ethic of social ad¬
justment was the supreme good, was then missed.

Piety, the mother of discipline, was the one truly absolute duty
and a hterary education was the one universal means of perfec¬
tion. The prince's wisdom of state, however, was thought to be
the selection of the “correct” minister in the classical sense, so
Confucius is reported to have said to the Duke of Nagi.

JO. The Significance of the
Classics

THIS education was transmitted only through the study of the old
classics whose absolutely canonical prestige and purified form of
orthodoxy went without question.

To be sure, one occasionally finds a statement to the eflEect that
a man consulting Antiquity about problems of the present may

» 164 * THE RELICIOIf OF CHINA

easily do hamn. Yet iliis shoiild be interpreted as a rejection of the
old feudal eonflitions rather than anU-traditiojiialisiii, as Lef^ge
a-ssumes. The whole of CoBiucianJiini beeame a relentless cano-
nization of traditian.

Li Ssiis famous nunistedal Memorial wliieh was truly anti-tra¬
ditionalist, was direetcil agajijst CiinFucianism and led to the great
catastmpbe of the burning of the books after tile ta^eatiiin of the
bureaucratic and unified state in 213 a.c. The guild of the literati,
we read, praises Antiquify at the expense of the preseut, hence
teaeheK euntempt for the emperor's laws and critidzes the laws
in terms of the allegedly autlmritative books of literati. Tim
only useful books are those on economics, mudieme, and divuia-
tion—a characteristic reversal of Confucian values. This was tlic
completely utilitarian rationalism of the destroyer of feudalism
who for the sake of his power positiim, divested liimsclf of all
those fetters of tradiUuii which wore always a barrier to Con-
fueiEin rationaliifTii. But in SO doing be upset the prudent compro¬
mise between the interest of the ruling stratum in |M>wer and its
inlerKst in legitimacy. On this compromise the raison of the
system was based.

Undoubtedly, reasons of security made tlie Han dynasty dtJy
fall back upon Confiicianlsm soon afterward. A patrimoriia] of¬
ficialdom, fiiitUng itself in a position of absolute power and
monopolizing both the official and priestly fimctions, could indeed
have none but a traditionalist mental ily regarding Bteratrire. The
sanctity of literature alone guaranteed the legitimacy of the order
which supported the position of offidaldom.

At this point bureaucracy had to restrict Its ratiimalism^ like¬
wise, in ennfronting the religious belief of the people it had to do
so. Popular belief guaranteed the docility of the massesi and, as
noted, set liniits Ui the criticism of the system of government.
The individua] ruler could be a poor mler, hence devoid of
char isma- In that case tlie ruler did not rule by divine right and
was to be deposed |ust like any inconijretent official. The system,
however, had to rest on piety, which was endangered with every
shattering of tradition. For these well-known teosooa Confudon-

THE CONFUCIAN LIFE ORIENTATION » 165 «

ism has not made the slightest attempt ethically to rationalize
the existing religious behefs. It presupposed as an element of the
given secular order the oflScial cult which was managed by the
emperor and the oflScials, and the ancestor cult of the house¬
father. The monarch of the Shu Ching reached decisions not only
after consulting the lords of the realm and the “people^’ (then, un¬
doubtedly, the army) but also after using two traditional means
of divination. The course of conduct was merely casuistically de¬
bated if these sources contradicted one another. Especially be¬
cause of the attitude of the educated stratum, the private need
for advisory cure of soul and religious orientation remained on
the level of magical animism and the worship of functional deities.
These are always to be found unless prophecies intervene and in
China prophecies did not arise.

Chinese thought has brought magical animism into a system
which de Groot has named “Universism.” But Confucianism has
not alone contributed to its creation and we must consider the
participating forces which, from the Confucian viewpoint, were
heterodox.

11. Historical Development of
Orthodoxy

FIRST, we have to realize that Confucianism was the only doc¬
trine among the theories of the literati which was ultimately also
absorbed by the other schools. But Confucianism has not always
been the only accepted doctrine, nor the exclusively state-ap¬
proved philosophy of China. Hung-fan, that is “the great plan,”
is the technical term for this. The further back one goes in history
the less identified with Confucian orthodoxy are the literati. The
Period of the Warring Kingdoms knew of competing philosophical
schools and their competition did not vanish even in the unified
Empire. It was especi^y keen whenever imperial power reached
a low point. The victory of Confucianism was decided only about
the eighth century of the Christian era. This is not the place to
recapitulate the history of Chinese philosophy; nevertheless, the

THE BELICIDNT OF CHINA

» 166 *

development oF orthodo)^ may be illuitratcd by the following
data.

For die time being we may by-pass the position of and

his school sinco it stood very much apad- After Confudus there
are still such philosophers to be foiuid as Ya^g Chu,, an Epicurean
fatalist wbOp ini opposition to the Coufudajis, eliminated the sig¬
nificance of education because the uniqueness of a jicrson was
held to be his irremediable There was Mo Ti^ who emanci¬

pated himself from tradition to a considerable ilegroe. Before and
during Mencina’ time in the fourth centiny b.c., imp^^rial power
was at a low and Sung K^eng^ an active oilieia] of one of the War¬
ring Kingdoms, stood On an anti-Confucian platform maintaining
the wickedness of hirnian n^ituic. The dialcctieians, the aseetielstSp
and the pure physiocrats sucb os Hsii Hsing opposed fme
another with programH widely differing in economic policy. As
late aa tlic second centitTy An, the ChuRg fjin of Chu Hsi took
a strictly anti-pacifist p:i${itiDu, arguing that degeneration of mores
during long periods cf peace leads to debauchery and lascivious¬
ness.®*

All these were noin:?lnssiml heresies and Mendits fniight those
of his time. But his coiitemporaryp llsun-bcu, took the Confucion
view that human goodness was an artlBcial product nnt of God
hut of mail. Thus, politically, he malntainedi Xcd is the expres¬
sion of the heart of the people.^*

Also the absolute pessimistp Yang Chu, stood aloof from Men-
efus and conslderEd tlie end of aU wisdom to he the lieaiing of
life and casting off the fear of death. A reason often presented for
the sufferance of the pious was ihaL God's will is ^'unsteady*"

A system of the antagonist literati schools of his time is to be
found in Ssu-ma Chlen^ whose father scenis to have been a
Taoist.^^ Six schools aie distinguished: Firstp metaphysicimiSi, with
their Tin and Y^ng srpeculations based upon astrO[i{}my^ second.
Mo Ti (^locius and his schtkjl), iiiBuenccd by mysticism be¬
lieving in plain burials and absolute simplicity of conduct even
for the emperor^ third, the school of the philologists, with their
interpretation words and conceptual realism, who were rela-

THE confucian life odientation » ler «

tively ApoUticaJ and had stirvivied fiom the timff of the sophists^
fourth, the Legists, men who represented, os Tsui Shui Jatw did,
the theory of detemjentj fifth, the Taoists, to be discussed later;
sixth, the school of the literati, die CtMifuciaiis, whom Ssu-'iijs
Ch'iea follows. Yet Ssu-ma Ch'ieu represent!! the Cbufucian
standpoint in a way which later appeared, iu several respects, to
be aoti-classical.

12. The "'Pathos” of Earhj
Confucianism

SSU-M\ Cll lEN the well-koowu Emperor Huaag Ti

who become an anchoret in a way suggestive of Taoism’* Hfs
cosmogony, a doctrine of five elements, is evidently of astrological
origin. The tnthodoi Confucians would surely go along with his
appreciation of w^calth; they would aiso endorse the UOtiOa that
only the rich are motivated to adhere mrrectly to the rites. Though
the reoortunendation of trade as a means of iuconie was shocking
to the Confucian-s,*" some of them would not have objected to
Ssu-ma Ch'fen s doubts about the absolute determinism of "provi-
dencse" for it was known that virtuous people do die of starvation.
I he monuments of the Han period bear si m il fl T statements. For
example on inscription from a tombstone of the Han period
(about 25 a.o.) bemoaning the premature death of a man reads:
There have been men since Antiquity who have led an impec¬
cable life without having been rewarded for iL" "His memory
hves on' (cf. Ssu-ma Ch'ien), “He will ennoble bis descendants.”
(Iliis is the old eonceptioa of hereditary charisma; the utrvver con-
ccplicm differs from t^, a.s mentioned above.) “He has departed
for a cold shadowy realm.”

An inscription iTam » ttush of 405 a.d, reads; “All life must
die.” Perfect man has no individual characteilstfcs. (He is united
with Tao. Cf. Chapter VII. Is this Cbuaag-t:£u's inffucncg?)
Praise is given to indifference toward promotion or loss of office.
PrnmotiOD is determined by frankness, filial piety, and piety to-
wjird tlifi dead.

THli HELlClUN OF CHINA

»m «

But generally it was felt that, “Heaven knows no mercy, he
fell jdck and A J-s never mentioned. The mentality

and mood on the whole is related to that of Ssu-ma Ch'ien and
the forced opUniisin of tlio Later period is abseiiL^^

Yet^ Ssu-ma Ch^en^s position was not acceptable without reser¬
vation. That hciolsia might be *"useless“ eorrespondod to the later
doctnne and was ascribed to the Master. But it was hardly classi¬
cal that die celebrated name was everything, that virtue was pre¬
sented as an in itself^" or tliat the prince wax to be peilagfigi-
cdly directed. Yet this was what the castrate Ssu-ma Ch'ieo
taught. Tlie absolute ecjuanlinlty of tone in the Annals wax prao-
tieed by Ssu^ma Ch'fen in a masterful manner and accorded ex-
caJleiitly with Confueius'practice. The letter which Ssu-ma Cl/ien
wrote to his friend Jen Yen,“' who was in custcKly and who in
vain sought his help, strikes us as being in the most orthodox
Confucian style. Ssn-ma Cb'ieci, at one time suspect politically,
had been castrated.^® He ivas later employed but wrote that he
actually could not or wniJd not help him for fear of incurring
risks. For the soul of one ‘'who has taken to the long path’'-*
might harbor wrath againjit him, i.e.^ Ssu-ma Ch^ien, and hence
might barm him. He wished to state his reasons for not helping
Jen Yea, fo^r die ''virtuous man puts himself out for oim who
knows how to esteem him " a truly Confucian expression. Instead
oF discussing the fate of the unfortunate in detail, he mprely
presents his own mlsfortiine* that is lux eaxiratiun. How did the
writer manage to get over his sufferance? He lists four main
points:

First by not dishonoring one's anc?estorsi second, by not losing
one^s o^vn hoiiur; third, by not ^violating reason and dignity^;
four, by not trespassing the "mks binding upon all.** As for
Ssu-ma Ch'iem he would wash off the stain by writing hix bonk.

The whole letter reminds us nf Abaclard s letters to HeloH^
which hurt iis by their cold didactic maimer (for prc.^unuthly
similar reasons!). Yet thix cool temperature of mter-human xela-
tions ix truly Confuclan. There ate things which may run oounter
to our feelings but we shnidd not forget that the magnificent nod

TUB CONFUCIAN LIFE Olft IE If T A T ION B 169 «

proud documents, cited at tlic end of the preceding c h apter, arc
done in the Coofuckn spirit, Shih Huang Ti"s iDscilpUon, repro¬
duced by Ssii-ma Ch'icn,^^ dchn-es ac:!Hng against “reason" as
objecLionable. This would be interpreted by Ssu-ma Ch'ien and
the ConfucLans to mean Lhat guidance for reasonable conduct
can be aitaiucfl only through stud)"^* and knowledge. For Con¬
fucianism the lost word was “'knowledge^” and that meant knowl¬
edge of traditifm and of the classical norm as acquired tluough
literary studies. In this empbasisp as we shall see^ Confuciani^
was separated from other !a-5tems of Chinese attitudes tmvard
the world.

13. The Pt^ciftst Chnrat^^r
iff Confuduni^n

THE "reason" of Confucianisiu was a rationalisin of orders Chen
Ki Tcing says. Tlather he dog and live in peace thau be man
and live in anarchy."®^ As this statement indicates^ Confucinn
reasim was essentially pacifist in nature,^ Historically, thi^
peculiarly was acccutuated to the poujt where Emperor Ch^ien
Lung could write in the histoJj of the .Ming dynasty, "Only
he who seeks to slied no human blood can hold the realin to-
getheE'^‘* For, “I'he ways of Heaven arc changeable and reason
alone is our aiiL^ Tliis was the final product of the unified Em¬
pire. In contrast, Coofudus had demanded vengeance for the
killing of parcutSp older brothersf, and friends and regarded thic
as a manly duty. But the ethic remained padfist, kmer-worldly,
and solely oriented to tin? fear iif the spirits^

The spirits were not without mord qualifications. On the
conttajyi we Iiave Keen that in China, as in Egypt, the irra-
tioualiy nf the Judidary was founded in the ^licf that the
ciy of the oppressed iiie\Thi!>ly indiiced the vengeance of the
spirits. It was especialiy true when dte victim bad dif?d of
suicide, grief, and despair. Emergiug at thf? latest under the
Hau dynasty, this film belief grew out of the idea^lized projection
of the huieaucracy and die right of appeal to Heaven* We

170 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

have also seen the great power of howling masses accompanying
a real or supposed victim of oppression in the train of officials.
An identical belief in the vengeance of spirits compelled every
oflBcial to give way before mass hysteria with its danger of
suicide.

A crowd forced a capital verdict to be passed against a man¬
darin who had beaten his kitchen boy to death (in 1882).*® The
belief in spirits and their way of fimctioning was the one and
very effective official Magna Charta of the masses in China. But
the spirits also kept watch over contracts of all sorts. They denied
protection to coerced or immoral contracts.^® Legality as a virtue
was thus animistically guaranteed in concreto and not merely
as a total habituation of the whole personality. Yet, the centrd
force of a salvation religion conducive to a methodical way of
life was non-existent.

PART III

TAOISM^

CHAPTER Vtl

ORTHODOXY AND
HETERODOXY

T

J, D(?rfriTi€: and EUimt in Chhia

iiE oSual Chiacse stAtE; oilt everywliere serv'ed only the
interests of Che community; the oncftstor cult served Chose of
the sibs^ With both of them individual intere^ibs pi^ se remained
out of the picture. The great spirits of nature were Increasingly
depersonalized. Their cult was reduced to oiEdal dtuah the ritual
was gradually emptied of all motional elements and finally be¬
came equated with mere social convenhon. This was the work
of the culttijtrd stratum of intellectuals who left entirely aside
the typical religious needs of the masses. The proud renuucia-
tiou Ilf the beyond and of religious guarantees of salvation for
the individual in the here and now could be sustained only
among culturerl intellectuals.^

This gap (between the masses and the Intellectuals) could
not be fill lid by imposing the Cnnfneian attitude upon non-
mandarins, that is to say inculcattng them with classical doc-
trine^ \lie only available instruction.

Shortly after Confucius, a variety of fuDCtional deities and
apotheosized heroes suddenly appeared in literatiire+ It is hardly
conceivable that the process of developing such divine figures was
only theu iiiitiatcdp for elsewhere these foimations belong to
earlier stages. Certain typical functional deities {“"masters"*) of
thunderp winds, etc., are diaractcrlstic of the earlier religion of

- 173 -

» 174 €

TJiE OE CHINA

pBasanbi; apntheosjzKf! herofts bespeal? of feudal hero coinbiit
and belong to ei period long since passed in ChiDa. But the spcdal-
izatJen and EmtiDD of the functional deities down to the goddess
of the privy, Uke the sioiilar spe^alization of iwmttm iu ancient
Eomc^ may have resulted from mcreasing oultic conventionalisin
under the rule of bureaucracy*

The canonizatioii of Confucius is die £rxt certain example of
a historical figure becoming a subject of worsbipn^ Bietorial rep-
resentationSp even more tbaiii numerous features of the ambig-
nouH ofiiciaL termjnc}h}gy't allow us to discern in the God of
Heaven a being originally conceived as a person. As we love
seen, nut until the twelfth cenhiiy of the Christian ora was bis
depersonalization brought to a materialistically determlued end.
Ihe masses were blcN^ed from dircet access to the iinpersDnali^ed
highest being in the prayer and sacrifice of the stale cult. For
them the primeva] ''Lord of Heaven/ legends of whose birth,
government, hernutage, and ascent to Heaven were later elatMi-
rated, seems to have lived ever after and lias hcen worshiped
m the household. The represeiitativc.H of the official cult of
ITeaven naturally ignored this.

Other popular deities known in uiodem times may well be
sinuLtrly derived fmm ancient functional deities. These the offi¬
cial cult Ignored and Confucianism merely cunnted them among
thfi crowd of “jrpmts/ Only an expert could approaeb the difficult
problem of rektiDg the onginal cliaractcr of these deities to
their later form, to as^dgn a place to “animism.'’ Only an
expert could conceive the miraculous nature and the efficacy
ascribed to aaiiiml and artificial objects and thereby at^ign a
place to “fetishism."' We are not concerned with these problems
here. Wo are interested in the dcavage between the nffidnl
institution of grace and non-classical popular rcUgion. And we
wish to inquire whether the latter coiild have or has been the
scRirce oF a mEthodical way of life differing from tlic official cuU
in orientation. Such might appear to be the case. The cults of most
popular deities, unless they were Buddhist in origiu, were con¬
sidered part of a religious cuTrent which Goubidanism and the

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

» 175 «

institution of grace under its control have always treated as hetero¬
dox. This current, like the institution of grace oriented to Con¬
fucianism, on the one hand consisted of cultic and magical prac¬
tice and on the other hand, doctrine. This we s ha l l soon discuss.

First, however, it seems useful to clarify further the principled
relationship of the old popular deities to the ethical doctrine of
Confucianism.

We may use the example closest at hand: let us consider the
relation of the Hellenic philosophical schools of social ethics to
the old Hellenic popular deities. Again we can observe the awk¬
ward situation which, in principle, has been shared by the cul¬
tured intellectual strata of all times when confronting historically
given, robust folk behef. The Hellenic state gave ample leeway
to metaphysical and social-ethical speculations. The state merely
demanded the observance of the cultic duties which were be¬
queathed, for neglect of them could bring misfortune to the polis.
The Greek philosophical schools corresponded to Confucianism
in their social-ethical orientation and the main representatives of
the classical period, like the Chinese intellectuals of the Confucian
school, essentially left the gods aside. On the whole they simply
went along with the transmitted rites, as the circles of genteel
intellectuals in China did and as such circles generally do with
us. At one point, though there was a significant difference.

For pedagogical purposes, the Confucian edition of classical
hterature had succe^ed in eliminating not only these folk deities
but also all matters offensive to their ethical conventionahsm. This
was perhaps the most important contribution made by Con¬
fucius, as already indicated.

One need only read Platons famous discussion of Homer in
the Republic to recognize how much classical Hellenic philosophy
would have liked to do in social pedagogy as Confucianism had
done. Though there was no place for Homer in the ethically
rational state, he was a tremendous force in knightly education
and was considered classical. In the military pohs the role of
Homer and his hero-gods could not possibly have been ignored
by public authorities and educators. Nor was it possible to estab-

» 276 ^

TriE OF CHINA

lish a nile of literati ba5ed on an ctbicaUy purllcetl Jiteratiir <5 (and
music) such as FatriinoniaLism h-As executed in its interest in
China, ^foreover, even after the polis had been sulxlntid and
political inhjbittons iJitis removed withm the pacified empire, none
of tlie co-osistiug pliilosuphical schools succeeded ui attaining
the fi^xelnsive eanoiiieai prestige which Confuemnism had attained
in China. For the analogy would have been the acceptance of
a special philosophy os the only correct stale philosophy^ i.&.,
as if tha Caesars iiad tolerated only Stoic philosophy and had
appointed only Stoic philosophers to office. This was impossible
in die Occident because no philDSOphical sclinf}! claimed or could
claim the legitimacy of absolute tmdibonalism, but CtiiifuciiiH,
Ending himself in such a position, dclibcmtely did this. For
this reasim ncciduntal philosophy could not be of political service
to a world mler and his officiaU In the way Cotifucian doctrine
could 1>L%

The GreeV philosophers in their inner nature were oriented
to problems of the free polis- Duties of citizens^ not duties of
subjects, was tlicir basic theme. An internal connection with
ancient and snoned religious eommandments of piety was kcldog;
such conimandiiients might have been of service to a patrimonid
riilt^r interested in legitimacy- In their sceab the politically most
influential philosophers were quite remote from that absolute
adjustiucut to the world and from the fejectLon of all dubiuiis
metaphysical speculations whose absence recommeuded Con¬
fucianism so urgently to the Chinese overlord. Stoicism down to
the Antomucs remained the doctrine of the opposition hostile to¬
ward opportunism. Only the disappearance ol the opposition
after Taeitus facilitated the acceptance of Stoic theories bv the
Caesars. This followed from the imiquencss of the ancient polis
and was perhaps its most important resul t for the hisloiy of ideas.

Thus the tendon betw^een philosophical thcoiy and sodal
ethics, as opposed to the popular cult of the pre-Christian Occi-
dentj continued to exist m the following sense. The cult of the
heroic and folk deities of “Homeric” times was cortespondinglv
developed as tlie officml institution; but the teachings of the

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY »177 «

philosophers were the optional concern of private citizens. It
was exactly opposite to what was found in China. There a
canonical doctrine and rehgiously sanctioned state rites co¬
existed with deities whose cult was in part only oflBcially prac¬
ticed, in some degree merely tolerated, and in part suspiciously
viewed as a private afFair. Of course, o£5cially unauthorized, par¬
tially suspect cults also existed in occidental Antiquity alongside
the oflBcial cult of the gods. Certain of these private cults were
distinguished by a soteriology of their own and a corresponding
ethic. Beginning with Pythagoreanism, this continued through the
cults of saviors during ihe time of the Caesars. The same held for
some imo£Scial cults in China.

In contrast, development in the Occident led to the world his¬
torical alliance between public authorities and one of these sote-
riological conununities—i.e., Christendom—an alliance still in¬
fluential today. Chinese development followed a different course.
For a time in China it seemed as if Buddhism might play a similar
role since it had been formally accepted by the emperors.
Buddhism, however, was confined to the position of a tolerated,
though influential, cult practiced alongside others. This was
due to the interests which we have indicated, such as the resist¬
ance of the Confucian bureaucracy, mercantilist and currency
policies, and finally to a tremendous catastrophe. Above all, as
we shall see later, the influence of Buddhism in China had rela¬
tively little bearing on the matter which is of special interest
here, namely, economic mentality. In China, most of the old
folk deities, as well as a whole swarm of new creations, had come
under the patronage of a priesthood which was tolerated because
it claimed to have originated with a philosophical personage, Lao-
tzu, and his doctrine. Originally the meaning of this doctrine did
not differ in the main from that of Confucianism. Later it be¬
came antagonistic to Confucianism and was finally considered
thoroughly heterodox. We cannot dispense with a review of this
heterodoxy.

The individual s mystic or ascetic quest for salvation was an

» 178 « THE HELICION OF A

interest entirely alien to (dessical) Codfucianism. lu Irxtlia, this
aeardi for salvatiun flowed from atrabi of educated laymen,
espccJaliy nobles who were kamed or seml-leamed in ibe Vedic
scriptures, and whose education was not bound to a priesthood.
The quest fur individual saJvaUoii liad, of course, just as little
place in Chinese bureaucratic rationalism as it tiad in the way
of life of auy bureaucracy-

2. and Lao-tzu

ANCHORETS* have always existed In China, and not only ac-*
cording to ChuaDg-t:cu.* For their existence has also been pre¬
served in pictorial representations* and the Confudans themselves
acknowledge them. There am even notes leading us to assume
that originally the early heroes and literati retired in old age
to a solitary Me in the woods. In a pure society of wairiois, the
“aged," considered worthless, Were often left to exposure and
it is quite possible that the anchorets were first recruited from
among these age groups. These assumptions are, however, un-

In historical times, unlike India, a Vanaprastha existence of the
aged was never considered normal. Nevertheless, only withdrawal
fnim the "world" gave time and strength for “thinking as well
as for mystie feeling. Conhicius, like his counterpart, Lao-t 7 :u,
lived alone and without office. The only difference was that the
mystics, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, declined oJEce-hoIding because
of their quest for salvation, whereas Coufudus felt himself de¬
prived of office. For politically unsuccessful literati, the anchoret
extstence was considered the normal foim of retirement from
politics rather than committing suicide nr pctitJoniug for punish¬
ment^ 'iTie brother of the prince of one of the Warring Kingdoms,
“ Yii, withdrew into anehorctisni.’ Chuang-tzu also
repjried that the successful emperor, Huang Ti, abdicated and
became an anchoret. One may only conceive of the early anchor¬
ets' goal of salvation as oriented first, maCTobiotically and second.

ORTliDPOXY AND nETEROPO^^V ^ 179 «

magicsaJIyi Lopg Uffi and magic: ptiwurs were the of the

masters and of a small numb^ of disciples who resided with
them in their service*

3. Too atid Myiflictsm

TO THIS point of view a mystical attitude toward the world
could be enjoined, A philosophy eould be based upon It^ and
this actually happetiecl. Emperor Huaog Tl, upon questiomng,
received the answer that the sage could teach only men who
had retired from the world, especially from the secular station
and office. They were the "'scholars^ who alt at home^'' he,, did
not accept office. The later contmst with the Confudan aspiiauts
to office is already indicated here, for the "philosophy'^ of the
anchorets went far beyond tliLs+ As with all true mysticism,
absolute indifference to the ^vorld was self-implied; and, it is not
to be forgotten that the maerobiotfe goal was, as said before^ one
of the anchorets" strivings. According to the primitive '"meta¬
physics^ a thrifty and rational managomoot (one might say
economy) of the obvious bearer of life, i,e*, ones breath, seemed
important

The physioIugLcally ascertHinable fact tliat the regulation of
breathing may facilitate mental conditions of a specific sort led
further ^eld. The "saint*'" must be "neither dead nor alive" and
should behave as if not alive, "I am a stupid man^” hence 1 have
eluded worldly wisdom^ said Lao-tzu in affirming his sanctity.
Ch\iang-tzn did not wish to be Tiamessed" to m office but rather
to exist "like a pig in a muddy ditch,"

The aim was ““to make one's self equal to ether," to ^'throw oS
the body."* Experts hold different opinions when asked whether
Indian influences have been present in this rather old pheDOmenon
of regulation of breathing,^ Indian vestiges do nut seem to be
absent in the case of the most famous of these andiorets who
fled frOiii office, namely Lao-tai+ alleged by tradition to be older
but fsontemporory with ConfudusJ®

* 180 *

THE HELIGiON (iT CHINA

4. The Practical Consequences
of Mysticism

HERE we are iiot coiibcfUKfd with Lao-tru as a pbiloscjpher'^^
but with his sociological position and his uiQuence. The opposition
to ConfucianLsin is evidcat even in terminology. The haimonio
state appropriate to the charismatic emperor was designated
in til*! Chung Ytmg by Confucius’ grandson, Tatu Ssu, a** a .state
uf equilibrium. In the writings influenced by Lao-bm or claiming
to follow him, the state is called emptirLCss (hu), or non-existencc
(uai), whidi is attainable by wu mej (doing nothing) and pu-jjen
(saying nothing). Obviously, diese are typically mystic and
by no means exclusively Chinese categories, According to Con-
Fucian doctrine the Lf, the mies of ceremuny and ritual, arc
the means for producing chung;'^ hut the mystics viewed these
means as being quite worthless. The inner attitude by which
one can achieve the power of a Tao shih^ a doctor of Ttio su to
say, is to behave as if One did not have a soul, tliereby liberating
the soul from the senses. Like the Coofndans the Tai} Teh
ascribed to Lao-tzu, teaches that Me is equal to the
possession of a “shen*; heuce macrobiotics is equated with cultiva-
bon of the s/um. The macrobiotic point of view was the same, but
the means differed.

%Ve have met repeatedly with the baric category. Too, in
terms of which heterodox Taolsts were Inter separated from
Confucians. Roth schools, and generally all Chinese tliought,
held the Concept of Too in common. All the old deities were
likewise common to them. But Taoism has enriched the pantheon
with Dumeioiis deities who are essentially apotheosized men
-a facet of macrobiotics, whereas orthodoxy considered
deities as non-classical Both had in common the classical litcra-
turc; but the heterodox school added Lao-tzu’s Tao Teh Chtng
anti Chuang-hru's writings whidi the Confuciaiw rejected os non-
classical. Confucius himself did not reject the biisic categories of
his opponents, as de Groot greatly emphasizes. Also Confucius has
not rejected tou-mei (laisses.-faiTe) and obviously he has been quite

ORTHOnOXV AND H^TJEHODOXT » JSl k

close on occasJoa to tiie doctrine of the charisma of

nient which in Too means abstention from all actfon* Let ua
pursue the contrast somcwliat further.

5. The Contrust Between the
Orthodox and Heterodox Sehooh

CONFUCIANISM had oli^1lnatr^d all ecstatic and orgiastic ves¬
tiges of the cult and, lile the Roman nobility of office^ refiscted
these as iindlgriLfied* StUl magical practice here as everjnvhcre
knew ecstasy and orgy. The am ( men or women) and sMi ( men)»
the old medicine men and rainmakers, still c:di!t today and are
mentioned In the htcrature of all times* At temple festiyities they
are still ecstatically active. Originally they absorbed tlie magical
"ptjweTj'^ then the *^spirit," then the "god" and worked through
him. The am and shih n^presented themselves later as ‘Taoists"
and until the present were considered so. But in the initial phase,
Lao-tzu and his disciples did not seek the orgiastic ecstasy whidi
they would certainly have rejected os undignified; mther, like
all mystic tntellcctualsp they sought apathetic ecstasy. As we
shall see below, only later did ah the magicians agree to consider
themselves as “Taoist^ suoee:jsorx [if I.ao-tzu and to regard him
as tliesr archeg^etcs because he happened lo tie or was considered
to be one of the Ltemti. Thn mystics were in their worldliuess, i.e.,
their macrobfotieSp still more radical dian the Cemhidans. What
was the substance of their central theories and in what way
did Lbey differ? In relation to Confucianism one tends to desig¬
nate all heterodoxy ^^s "Taoism."

“Tao^ per se Is an orthodox Confudan concept. It mcan^c th&
ottfmal order of the cosmos and at the same time its course, an
identification frequently found fn a metaphysics which latis a
thorough dialectical structure.^* With Lao-tzu, Tao was brought
into relationship witli die typical god-sseeking of the mystic. Too
is the one unchangeable elcmeut and therefore it is tlac absolute
value; ft means the order well as the god-head of matter and
the oU-incliidvc idea of the eternal arch-symbols of all being. In

» 182 ^

i Hf> OF CHlKA

shorty it Is the divine AlUOne of which one can partake—in all
c^Djjlciijplativc mysticism—by rendeiing one's soli absolutely void
of worldly interests and pa^sitinate desirKst until release from all
aetivit)^ is attained (wu toei). Not only Confucius, but also his
school could and did accept this. Tfio was the same and was
equally valid for both Con^dus and Lao-tzu.

The Cbufuciaiis^ hcwcveip were not mystics. Interest in uuiou
with the divine substance and in the irtate attainable by contem¬
plation should have led Lao-tzu^ like most of the mystics* to the
complete devaluation of inner-worldly culture as a source of re¬
ligious salvation^ To some extent this held for Lao-tzu^ too. To
him the supreme good was a psychie state, a unio aud

not a st^te of jjrace to l>e proved in active ccjudiiet like occidental
asceticism.

As with all mystidsm this state was dctcmiuicd psychologic-ally
and did not operate externally in a rational way. Universal
acosmistic charity typically results from the objectless euphoria
of these mystics and their chaructcriistic apathetic ecstasy; pW'
haps it had been created by I*ao-tzu. This purely psychic stale
was al-sn rationally inturpretud here. Heaven and earth were
legitimated as the greatest deities because of the absolute uu-
aElfishuc:js of their services to man aud because of the uncon-
ditional goodness peculiar to divinityn The macrobiotic element
of the doctriue constitutes the basis for the permanence of forces
of nature which at least approximate that of the solely Ctemol
2 * 130 . The mystic's conduct followed this modeL

The physiologically determmed intcmal coiiilitinn was Likewise
rationally interpreted. Everywhere the substance of iiiysticism
is to maintalu one's goodness and humdity by leading an incognito
existence in the worlcL Tliis airurtitutu^i the mystic's S[iccifically
broken relationship with the world. If action is not ahsohitely
suspended it is rnlnirnissed, for therein lies the only possible
priaif Ilf tlie mystics state of grace. And only in this manner
is it possible to demonstrate that the world contiot touch him. In
accord with Lao-tzu's theories it is at the same time the best
guarantee for the perniancuce i}F one's life on earth, perhaps

On’THOt^QXV AND HETEROTIOXV

» 183 *

tivm perm;iiience bfiynnd life on earth, Lao-tzu or his Inter¬
preter did not develop a true doctrine of luiinDrtelj^; this seems
to be a product ol later tiEnes. Though the thought of being re¬
moved to eternal paradise once the indivldu^ hiid att^ed
perfect Too is a rather early idea, it was uot a dominant one^

With Lao-tzii die minimizatiun of action resulted^ at least
primarily and directly, from the nature of the mystic possession
ol die holy. Lao-tzu has only indicated^ not consummated, certniD
impiicalions of mystic religiosity. The “saint'^ whom Lao-tzu
places above the Confucion “geifltleman“ ideal, not only has no
need for worldly viiLue, but basically this is dangerous since it
may deflect him from the pursuit of die holy. In the paradorical
formulation favored by the Chinese, Lao-tzu regards worldly
virtue and its esteem as a sign that Che w'orld has become xmholy
and godless. For him a world which is held together by the
cardinal virtue of Coufucian Lt, diat in ^prupricty,'^ stands at
the lowest level. This world happens to exist, however, and
what matters is to accommodate ones self to its ways,

Siidi accommodatifin is passible only through relativities of
some sort, Lao-tzu did not take as his conclusion the resolute
rejection of the world. Nor, above aU, did he reject in principle
the ideal of the educated gentleman fefttin tzu) which was vital
for the mandarins as a status grpupn Had he done so, traces
of his thoughts might never have come down to us.

To be sure, he demanded the "great" virtue as opposed to
the "little’^ %drtue of Confucianisin, inOn, accommodation to the
world. Tliis means he demauded the ediic of absolute perfectlO!0
as against the socially relativnst ethic. 'Phis demand, however,
could ultimately lead him neither to asceticist eonclu!iions r^or to
pjsitive demands in the field of social ethics. In port this was
so because contemplative mysticism cannot give birtti to such
demands; in part also because the ultimate conclusions were not
drawn.

According to a troditiOD, the real content of which is ques-
tiouable but which some pminent experts still maintain, the
personal antagonism of Confucius toward Lao-tzu was deter-

» 184 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

mined Qiily by ccrtiiia relfitivliit consi^iU’Once^j wbidh Laa-Lzu^si
mysttcism ha d far poll Heal ideals. On the one hand the ration¬
alist literati tended toward the eentrdLSin of the rationally and
bTireancruticiilly goviirufrd welfare-state. On the otljer hajiil the
mystic advocated the greatest possible autonomy and self-
stiflieieucy lor the individual parts of the state, those small com*
miinities Avhicb inight form a locus of plain peasant or civic virtrie.
The mysHcs upheld the slogan: as little bureaucracy as passible,
for their sclf-perfeetioii could not possibly be promoted by the
busy state policy of civiUzation. At the famous meeting of Lao-t^xi
and Confucius, tradition ascribes to the lomier the warning to
ConfnchiSi, "may tlie Master banish hhi [o^vn] proud spirit, his
many wants^ his flattertTig bearings his grandiose picms." To this
is added the argument which Is as impUdt for the mystic ^ it
is inaderpiate for the raHuriallst man of social ethics. “All this Is
useless for you personally/ i.e., useless for attahiing the unto
vii/s£ica with the divine principle of Tao. Mystical iilummatian
meant tliat all tluags comtr hy themselves to man. But
if one may draw canclusions from his transmitted statements^ this
was a porsouaUy imaltamable goal for tliu founder nf Con-
fudanisin and one tliat lay beyond ins cndowmentK, Confucius
in astonishment is said to have refcired to Lao-tzu as the '^dragon/
thus indicating his limitations.

The concept of sanctify (hsing), basic lor Lao-tzu, plays no
part in the Confuclan system, it is by no menus unknown, but
Confucius considered this state as never having been attained*
not Evan by iumsclL Hencx^, this concept remains unconnected
with the Confucian ideal of chufi izu^ the "cultured’* man. Sanc¬
tity, as is the case %vith Mendus, Is basically viewed as a gentle¬
manly virtue cuhauced to perfection.

The scriptural symbol for Laevtzu's sanctitj- expresses humility.
As a category of strictly individualist self-salvation Loo-t2u's
onneept of snncHty pninls in ib? corusequences to fl direction op¬
posite the Confucian ideal. The latter is guided by the yaidstick
uf cultiii^tion aud accommodation to world and soclely os
they bappEm to be. T^io-tz^i rejected the scriptural scholars, who

OETHODOKY AND HETEtlODCXY

in Cbim n^prcsent tbccilogy^ for tJie reason that occidental
myaties rejocted theology: because it leads away from God.
Men of social ethics out to master and order real life typioilly
and naturally rcproadied Lau-b^u’s mystic salvation^ as they
would jeproadi all consistent mystic salvation, for its “tgeitism.'’
Coiisistantly carried tluough^ the mystic could indeed search
only for his own salvation; he could seek to inUuence others onlv
by example, not by propaganda, or by social action. When fully
eoiisisttfjit, Eriystic!i.mi would have to reject inner-TVorldly action
completely because it is urele^'ant for die salvation of ihn souL
Some beginnings of principled abstention from politics are to
be found In rather distinct form. It is, however, the charaetcnstic
trait and the source of all paradoxes and difficulties in Lau-tzu's
system that in this it is not consistent.

Lao-tzu {or his interpreter) belonged to the same stoihim as
Confucius and tbcrcforc, bke aU ChinesCj took certain things
for granted. The first of these was the positive value ol govern¬
ment which inevitably contradicted the assumption that salvation
lay beyond this world* This value followed from what was
generally presupposed as the charismatic vocation of die ruler.
For Lao-tzu^ too, the good of man ultiniHteiy rfepended upon
the qualities of the ruler* From this the mystic concluded that the
ruler ought to have the charisma of ouc mystically united with
the Ttia^ and further^ that mystic redemption was to be im-
parted to all subjects os "gift of grace** through the charismatic
eBicacy of the ruler s quaLtics. However, for thn social, ethical
man it was sufficient that the ruler per sc be approved by Heaven
and that his virtues be adequate as social cdneal qualities from
the stEmdp{)int of the spirits,

Confucius and Lac^tzu, or at least their successors, nev'crtbelBss
shared the belief in ^ipiriLs and the whole official PantheOD,
whereas the Tao Tek Cktng was apparenUy largely free of magic.
An educated Chinese, oriented to practical politics could not
reject all tliis. The ideas of the supra^mimdane, personal god, who
w\Ts creatar and ruler of this world, who bL4d sway over all crefl'
turns as he saw fit and before whom all creatures wem unsoncti-

m *

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Bed, cotJd be comujmaated jacitber by Chiuese cduL:aliQj:i^ nor in
diL^ m^uL, by Indian erliicatinnH Therefore^ the approiicb to an
ascehcfst ethic which contrasts God and croatiirc was predndecb
It g)(xjs without jiaying fliiit the given, essentially onimist religion
ultimately meant lltde to the mystic in search cjI salvation. We
noticed and we stiall note repeatedly ^hat the sarne held for the
social ethical nirm educated in ConfuciaiiLSTn.

Both held the conviction that good order in worldly govern¬
ment wniilil best .serve to ieep the demons at rest. This dmis-
nialic trim of the belief in demons was One of the rei±jion.s which
also made it impossible fur Lan-teu's disciples to draw" radically
apolitical conclusions. On the other hand it is mid erst andable
that an intellectual stratum of olficiak and aspirants to office
in a patriniDnia] state could neither accept the individualist
quest for salvation nor the broken humility of the mystic. Above
all they could not accept the demand for a charismatic, uiystic
qualiEcatinn for the overlord and the administrators, which would
be like requiring a personal pnetuna and charisma for the Homan
bishops chnrdi. Moreover, it was perfectly understooil that the
bureaucratic power state of the rationalisbi would hold the field
in practical politics. Tliis was so much the case that while it might
he repeatedly felt that only a Chinese could c<irrectly interpret
Confucianism in detail, a similar tiling could not be said of
Taoism. European Kdenti.sts usually agree that iiowadavs RO
TOrrect Chines* could und^and with complete empathy* Lao-
bru's (or his inlcqjretcrs) views in their origtnal, inwardly ejc-
pcrfeuL’cd coiitexL

Among Ins successors or those who pretended to be succe^urs^
the ethical cousequciiL-es of I.an*tzu’s mysticisui contributed to
securing the predominauce of Coufudauism. The intemal iooon'
sistency of the mystic's attitude assisted this.

All religiously motivated, active antagonism to the world is
lackiug in IjKj-tzu as is mostly the case with ciintcmplative mys¬
ticism. The eoatemplatively determined demand for rational self-
sulBcicticy is motivated hy the argument that it pruloncrs life. But
all tension between the divine find the creatnml is lacking, a

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY » 187 «

tension which would have been guaranteed only by the retention
of an absolutely super-creatural, supra-mundanej personal creator
and ruler of the world. For Lao-tzu, too, the goodness of human
nature was the self-evident point of departure. The conclusion
drawn was not true indifference to the world or even rejection
of the world but only minimization of worldly action. Only Con-
fucian economic utilitarianism elevated to hedonism could have
practical results for social ethics in the world as it happened to be,

The mystic “enjoys” Too. The rest who cannot or will not do
so, may enjoy what is accessible to them. In this, a principled
antagonism toward Confucianism evidently found expression with
regard to the ethical and religious qualification of men. For the
Confucian, the common man in contrast to the superior man was
also the man who thinks only of bodily needs. He wished to see
this undignified condition alleviated through the creation of pros-
perous living conditions and through education from above. For
virtue per se was accessible to every man. As we have noticed,
no fundamental qualitative differences existed among men. For
the mystic Taoist, however, the difference between the illuminated
mystic and the man of the world had to be a difference in
charismatic endowment. The immanent aristocracy and the
particularism of grace in aU mysticism express the experience
that men are differently qualified in a religious way* He who
lacked illumination stood—in occidental terms—outside the state
of grace. He had to remain the way he was.

There was one consummate mystic hostile to the literati and
usually considered as belonging to Lao-tzu's school who reached
the peculiar conclusion that '*The rulers may fill their subjects^
bellies not their minds; they may strengthen their limbs but not
their character.”

Even one of Lao-tzu's views was that the state would do well
to confine itself to caring for the mere sustenance of men. This
view is rooted in his disinclination for literary knowledge since
it hindered true illumination. If the mystically illumined ruler
could not exert a charismatic and exemplary influence by his
mere existence it was better for him to abstain from all action.

» 188 «

THE BELIGION OF CHINA

One should let things and men go as they can. Too much knowl¬
edge on the part of the ruler’s subjects and too much government
by the state are truly dangerous evils. Only absolute compliance
with the imchangeable cosmic and social order leads to “acquies¬
cence,” to subduing of the passions. In Lao-tzu’s doctrine of salva¬
tion this was also promoted by music, edifying practice of the
ceremonials, taciturnity, and training in ataraxy. The Too Teh
Ching, ascribed to Lao-tzu with the reservations made above,
demanded in consequence the greatest non-intervention possible.
This demand was opposed to the prevailing inclination toward
patriarchical tutelage of the subjects in classical Confucian doc¬
trine. The Too Teh Ching argued that the happiness of the people
would be promoted most safely through the natural laws of the
harmonic cosmos.

We noticed that theories of non-intervention were also to be
found in orthodox doctrine. They could be deduced with extraor¬
dinary ease from the idea of providential harmony (the Too)
in the world. Very early they led to theories of the harmony of
class interests almost in the manner of Bastiat. These theories
corresponded to the genuinely low intensity and steadiness of the
administration in relation to economic life. The position of hetero¬
dox Taoism was even more consistent. The active motive of a
“vocational ethic” was of course entirely lacking in this rhinose
and especially Taoist “Manchesterism.” This was due to the
contemplative mystic base of Taoism. Only an asceticist ethic of
laymen, originating from a tension between God’s will and the
orders of the world, could have offered such an activating note.
Therefore the strongly emphasized Taoist virtue of thriftiness
did not have an asceticist but an essentially contemplative
character; the major concrete issue in the dispute with orthodoxy
was the question of reducing costs of funerals.

Having repeatedly spoken of “successors” and “disciples” of
Lao-tzu we should realize that this designation does not quite
agree with the facts. Lao-tzu, whatever his personal teaching
may actually have been, has hardly left a “school.” However, there
were philosophers quite some time before Ssu-ma Ch’ien who

» 189 €

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

referred to Lao-tzu as an authority. In far later historical times
in China, mysticism found some eminent representatives who
at least partially considered themselves as “disciples” of Lao-tzu.
This development is only of limited interest here.

Semi-legendary tradition describes the personal antagonism
between Confucius and Lao-tzu. But as yet one could hardly
have spoken of a “contrast of schools,” especially of one clearly
separating these two antagonists. Rather there existed a sharp
difference of temperaments, ways of life, and attitudes, especially
attitudes toward the practical state-problem—the oflBce. The con¬
trast of schools obviously (cf. de Groot) was articulated only by
Confucius’ grandson, Tzu Ssu, on the one han d, and in Chuang’s
sharply pointed polemic on the other. It is certain and experts
hke de Groot emphasize that the typical mystic’s rejection of
rational knowledge as a means of working for one’s own or the
general good was the thesis theoretically most important yet
unacceptable to the Confucians and even to their Master. Eveiy-
thing else might have been tolerable. De Groot emphasizes that
“quietism” (wu-wei) was not altogether alien to the Confucian.
The common descent from the early, solitary ways of the
“thinkers” was responsible for this. The early attitude of the
sages had changed considerably under the political pressures of
the “sophists” during the Period of the Warring Kingdoms. How
should one adjust to the Too without certain knowledge of the
true rites, which the “old men” possessed and which was acquired
only by study? Underlying this change in attitude was of course
the profound contrast between mystic indifference and the ac¬
commodation or the will to reform the world.

Ghuang-tzu formulated the opposition to the Confucians by
sharpening Lao-tzu’s formulations as follows: first, search for
“intelligence” means attachment to externals; second, search for
“reason” means attachment to sound (words); third, search for
the “love of man” means confusion in one’s practice of virtue;
fourth, seeking to do one’s duty means to rebel against laws of
nature (the omnipotence of Too); fifth, adherence to “LC (rules)
means attachment to externals; sixth, love of music means to be

1 . 190 *

TrtE Rt^LlfilON OF CHINA

to immfjraJity; sevt^nth^ ;idhifrenc^ li> .saxiL'Uty [[icuits adhcr-
loiot! in affectation^ eighth^ quf^Nt for knowledge [iieaji^ hair-
irplittujg.^^

Points one^ two, five^ and oiglit, may well Lave beeu the ones
wliich the Confucians alihaired most stioiigly* for ihc four car¬
dinal virtues of Confuoiau inau were; that is, love of maa;

h; that is^ nilt^s of living; tJiat is^ liberality (duties); chtj that is,
kuowicdge. Among these ft and chi vvere most important Any¬
thing which deviated from this was heretic and non-classical (pu
ching), incorrect (pu tuan)^ morally dubious and wrong Tao (tso
Tan}.

The split between the followers of Confucius and Lacnbai has
existed since Tzu Ssus attacks. But the bitterness of the dispute
was created only by the developnieut of tbe schwis and hy the
ctimpetition for preliends and puwer. The later literati who felt
themselves to bo Lao-t^u's successors at least xsccai^ionally at¬
tempted to establish an organizatioEi simjlar to th:if of the Con^
fiician liteniii:^ and tliis despite the prinriple of and Oxt

abhorrence of holding office.

The Tcuj Teh C/mig is not abj^tdutely and in toto condemned
as horotic by the CoufuoianSj but like the worts of Chuang-tzu
and Kuan Chungs it is always rejtictcd as non-clossical. That is^
the Tao Teh ChJng is not counted among the “sacred"" sqnphires.
Onc« and at least for a short tiine^ the emperors placed the Tao
Teh Ching among the classics which the caudidates liad to study
for the examination.

The Confueians in turn maintained that “knowledge” was im*
portant and also virtuous for the emperor. The emperor might
behave "'quietly'' if he wore a sdiolar and only in that case would
he do so. The Coufueinns put this the.'si^ into practico by estal>
lishing the gigantic ofEciol encydopedia {Ku chin t'u shti nhi
clfen^ pubbshed tn 1715). Neidier of the two parties lias doubted
the decisive imjioctancu of imperial charisma, which the Shu
Ching already coulained expbdtlyp but the interpretation differed,

OETilODOXY AND HETERODOXY

» 191 «

Taoi^l Afacrobiolics

A GENERAL tendencj* to the Chtoes^ vdue seheme tocLUtoted

tlie development of n ^pnciid ^chrial on the h:i!£iA of
teaching?. This was the apprecuTtion of physical life per se^ hence
of long life and the belief tliaL death h au absolute eviL For when
rightly csansidered death should be avoidable for a truly perfect
man. The truly perfect man (chen, chfng^ hstoj must be endowed
with invulnerability and niagieal powers; for in what other
way could his perfection be proved?*^^ This yardstick %vas very
old* There was high csteciii for the common milfoil, cambinations
of which play such a OTnspicunus part in the well knov™ orac¬
ular lines of the / JLi. This was likewise true of the turtle as an
oiacuhir anfmaU Both attained thnrrtik through their longevity.
According to Confuciem belief practice of virtue and, to particu¬
lar, studies had Tnacrohiotiq nffect|; si\ ttm, had silence and the
avoidance of bodily exertion without absolute abstention from
aetivlties. The gymnajjtics of breathing, mentioned above, were
especially developed os a macrobiotic means. Macrobiotic plants
become ipecific medicaments and the search for the elixir of hfe
was systematically practicedH We have seen that Sbih Huang Ti
for ihis very reason extended his favor tn this school. According
to all experience the restriction of excitement and quiet Uving
were macrobiotically etfcctive. The thesis seemed to be unassail¬
able th.'^t abstention from passionate desires ^vas the primary
inacrobiotic means and tlie cardinal virtue—hence the tom wei of
the anchorets and mystics.

With this as a pnnt uf departure, the development led further
afield through the doctrine of demons shared by both parties.
Systematization of macrobiotics once uudertokcu, the viiy was
dear for couceivlng the ratinnallzatinn of aJI apotropalc and
therapeutic magic* That has indeed happened and the theoretical
results have essentially become the cominiju prnperty of both
schools. The practical exploitation, hcjwes'er, was left to the non-
classical SchooL This was because lor the Confucian every de¬
parture frf>m the Dogma of (classically oriented) omnipotent

» 192 c

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

virtue simply endangered the imity of ethics. Besides, we cannot
forget that the emperor was constantly pressed in the direction
of magic through ie harem.

The purely magical aspect of Lao-tzu s doctrine facihtated and
elicited an influx of all the old magicians into the community of
the Taoists. They were most numerous in the South, the riciest
agricultural area, and it was there that this development was
preeminent.

The union of teacher and pupils in solitude outside the cities,
was the nuclear cell of the “Taoist” monasteries in China as in
India (and in contrast to the Occident). To be sure, the extent
of Indian influence on Lao-tzu (however independent-minded
he was) is disputed; this problem can hardly be solved in re¬
gard to Taoist formation of monasteries. Taoism with its hermi¬
tages probably paved the way for Buddhism, and Buddhist
competition brought about the Taoist monastic movement, a
movement for the organized association of the anchorets which
probably had a quick pace. The autonomy of Taoism seems
most distinctly guaranteed by the fact that not all of the func¬
tionaries, but only the most characteristic of them—the magicians
—lived outside monastic communities.^® Taoism had emerged
when the escapist doctrine of inteUectuals was fused with the
primeval, this-worldly trade of the magicians. The “Tao-shih” the
practitioners, hved a worldly life, married and managed then-
art as a vocation. They had altars founded en masse for all
sorts of saints but these were often deserted after a short time
because the saints failed to prove themselves. They created the
great o£Bcial collection of prescriptions and liturgies during the
sixteenth century^® and, given the opportunity, they engaged in
politics.

7. The Taoist Hierocracy

TAOISM was hardly generally diffused when it accepted a fixed
hierocratic organization. In the province of Kiangsi a hereditary
charismatic sib had monopolized the manufacture or life elixirs®®

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY »193 «

and had appropriated the name of fieri shih (heavenly master).
A descendant of Chang Ling, who had been councilor of the Han
and had written about the art of breathing, created an organiza¬
tion during the days of unrest and weakness of the Han dynasty.
This organization had an administrative staff, collected taxes,
enforced strict disciphne, and successfully competed with the
political authorities. In the end it created in Szechwan a truly
autonomous “church state.” At first, to be sure, it existed in the
form of a camorra-hke secret organization, namely the fai-ping
too, the “Kingdom of Peace.” It was the predecessor of a modem
organization which we will have to discuss below.

The church state was denounced in the year 184 by an apostate
and was outlawed and persecuted by the Han. This church
state, a typical organization of the South against the North,
maintained itself against the government by the so-called “re¬
bellion of the yellow kerchiefs,” a ferocious religious war (the
first of its kind). This lasted until the hereditary hierarch in 215
A.D. thought it pmdent to submit as a princely tributary to General
Wei.21 In that role he was confirmed and acknowledged with high
honors. His secular power waned considerably by the doings of
the government; officially he became only, in Gmbe’s happy
phrase, the “keeper of the files of the gods” who took care of
cases of canonization. He, by the way, was not the only man in
such a position. In addition to the ancestral cult, the apotheosis
of men was the source of “non-classical,” “Taoist,” gods. The
number of these had greatly swollen but they were ignored by
the official cult. The highest god Fan Ku, the God of Heaven, was
enthroned with his wives on the Jaspis mountain of the West.
His image is taken from the ancient conception of a personal
god as the lord of Heaven.

The political career of the tao shih now began and it was
based upon their claim to have power over the demons. For
in the struggle between the literati and the powers hostile to them,
we always find the Taoists with the party opposing the literati.
First the Taoists were “aristocratic.” The uneducated feudal
pressure groups used them as their tools. Their opposition to the

» 194 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Confucian rites and ceremonies^^ and craze for order and educa¬
tion enabled them to take the position that “the people shall re¬
main uneducated.” This was their position during Ssu-ma Ch'ien's
epoch and the hterati succeeded only as late as 124 in gaining
mastery over the Taoists. They saw to it that all prebends were
reserved for themselves and that the p^piniire of the seventy
court hterati was recruited from all parts of the empire.^^

However, once feudalism had come to an end the main ad¬
versary of the hterati was Sultanism, supported by the eunuchs,
generals, and “a-hterate” favorites. The Taoists regularly took the
side of the latter. Every upsurge of the power of the eunuchs led
to political influence by the magicians. This struggle repeatedly
ended in the victory of the hterati, a victory most decisive imder
the pacifist Manchu, but it continued down to the rule of the
Empress Dowager.

One should not entertain mistaken notions based upon our
concept of religious denominations. The Confucian mandarin also
claimed the Taoist for certain services,^^ just as classical Hellenic
man had enrolled the otherwise despised “prophet” and (later)
horoscopist. The very ineradicabihty of Taoism rested upon the
fact that the victorious Confucians themselves never seriously
aimed at uprooting magic in general and Taoist magic in particu¬
lar. They only sought to monopolize oflBce prebends.

They did not even entirely succeed in this. We shall demon¬
strate below the geomantic reasons which frequently blocked the
complete removal of once existent buildings. However, having
once allowed monasteries to exist, one had willy nilly to allow for
their inmates. This, as we shall see, also held for the Buddhists.
All strata of hterati given to demonology and magic repeatedly
shied away from provoking the “spirits,” including the non-
classical spirits. Hence, the Taoists were tolerated and in a certain
sense recognized by the state. The ofiBcial position of the Tao
Lu Ssu, subordinate to the Chang Tien Shih—the Taoist heredi¬
tary hierarch—was obviously modeled after the position of Bud¬
dhist superiors. In certain state temples, Taoist priestly positions
existed. There were, as a rule, first, a director; second, a hiero-

» 195 «

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

phant; third, a thaumaturgist (for drought and inundation);
fourth, ordinary priests.*® There are certainly Taoist traits in the
inscriptions of some of the neighboring** princes who had become
independent. The absolute rejection of Taoism by K’ang Hsi’s
sacred edict and by all Manchu rulers changed nothing in this
respect.

Before resuming the discussion of the specifically Chinese
“image of the world,” created jointly by the orthodox and the
heterodox, we wish merely in anticipation to record that the
position of Buddhism, viewed politically, was very similar.**

8. The General Position of Buddhism in China

BUDDHISM was imported from India as a means of gaining
convenient, literate, administrative forces and as a means of
taming the masses.

The “a-hterate” character of reformed Buddhism (Mahayana
Buddhism),*® appealing especially to the feminine emotive aspect,
made it a favorite faith of the harem. Again and again we find
eunuchs as its patrons, just as with Taoism. This was especially
true during the eleventh century under the Ming.**

There were various motives for the terrible persecution of
Buddhism. Among these were the currency and mercantilist in¬
terests of Confucianism; and, naturally, the widespread competi¬
tion for prebends. There was also the antagonism of Confucians
toward Sultanism which was supported by the Buddhists. None¬
theless, Buddhism was as little eradicated in practice as Taoism
was, despite the sharply worded edicts of the emperors and
despite the many secret societies which were linked to Buddhism
(“white Lotos”). In addition to geomantic reasons which will be
discussed further below, there were ceremonials which the Chi¬
nese certainly did not wish to forego and which were alone
offered by Buddhism—the masses for the dead. Belief in the
migration of souls remained one of the popular conceptions of a
beyond once Buddhism had gained a foothold. Therefore, recog¬
nized Buddhist prebends were to be found just Uke the Taoist

» 196 m

THP, BELUJION OF CUIKA

prebends.^^* TliEir position do^ not couoem ns hs yet {lud wc shall
resiime the discussion of Taoism-
The Vliterale" micl anti-Iitemte character of later Taoism ao-
coimLs for the interesUng fact tliat it took strong (though not
exclusive) root among the circles of traders- This is a very distinct
example of a fact which we shall kam repeatedly: the nature
nf a Stratum’s religiosity Las unwhere been solely determined by
economic txiridiiiiaiis But oke t^ersa the peculiar nature of Tao¬
ism could not be Irrelevant for the way of life of the merchants.
For Taoism had become absolutely inational and, frankly speak¬
ing, had turned to very inferior magical macrobiotics, dietapy,
and apotropaia, Taoism promised to prevent premature death
which was coiisklered a punishment for sins-*® it promised to
move in the supplicant's favor the (Taoist, non-das.«cal) god of
wealth and the numerous apotheosized buneaucratie and func¬
tional deities, .^ythlng resembling a "civic ethic" of course
most unhkely to be found m Taoism. Hcic we are not at all in¬
vested in this aspect of Taoism, hut rather in its indirect, nega-
tive

9. The Sysiettiatic Rationtdi^iion
of Magic

THE toleration of magical and animist conceptions by both
orthodoxy and heterodoxy and their positive cultivation by Taoism
have been decisiye for their continued existence and their tre¬
mendous power in Chinese life. Let ns briefly consider their
eflects.

In gffneral, one may say that every sort of ratTonalizatiou of tiic
archaic empirical knowledge and craft in China has moved toward
a magic image of the world. Astronomy became astrology insofar
as it was not a ealendric soieace. The latter was orehaic and first
served to allocate agncultural ftmetions to the proper seasons.
Technology wos primitive and in HO way approximated Baby Io¬
nian aceojiipllNliments, \Vith the revision of the enlpndar under
Shih Huang Ti, who was liosti'le to the literati, chronomantics

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY » 197 «

began its ascent. That is, purely in terms of analogies and macro-
cosmic notions tasks were allocated to the months, to dies fasti et
nefasti, not generally but for concrete matters in each case. The
Ta Shih (“superior writer”), a board of calendar makers who
were originally identical with the annalists, was transformed into
the official department of astronomy and astrology. However, the
management of chronomantics by means of numerous copies of
the government-produced Shih Hsien Shu (calendar, chronoman-
tic land register) became a source of profit for the “day-masters”
who were to be consulted when choosing a day for a task.

Astrology, on the other hand, was connected with archaic me¬
teorology, conjecture, visibility of Venus, the nature of stellar
light, and the determination of the winds. Originally, as de Groot
assumes,*® the latter was important because of the trade-winds.
Furthermore earthquakes, moimtain slides, aeroliths, monstrous
births, interpretations of fortuitous utterances of children (as
especially direct media) and magical “meteorology” of all sorts
produced an immense literature. It served exclusively to examine
whether or not the spirits were in order; if they were not the state
leadership had to be concerned with the consequences. The tpu
and shih, the primeval meteorological magicians and rainmakers
who engaged in this, were considered “Taoists.” Not infrequently
hysterical (clairvoyant) women engaged in this trade with spe¬
cial success.

Medicine, and connected wuth it pharmacology, once mani¬
fested estimable empirical accomplishments. They were com¬
pletely rationalized in an animistic direction. We have mentioned
before that macrobiotic plants provided the shen-jo medicaments
and like the tree of life of the Hebrews, they grew in enormous
quantities in the “Paradise of the West,” the grove of Queen Hsi
Wang Mu. The extent to which Chinese expansion was co¬
determined by hope for the discovery of this paradise, such as
Shih Huang Tis sea expedition for the life elixir, is hardly debata¬
ble. Characteristic of early conditions was the firmly believed
legend of the prince who heard (I) the spirits of disease in his
entrails debating how best to settle down. These may be in-

» 198 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

terpreted as animistically rationalized fever dreams and were
still relatively primitive as against other rationalizations.

Elements, seasons, kinds of taste and weather were brought
into relation with the five (I) human organs—thus, in turn, macro¬
cosm and microcosm—and magical therapy was oriented to such
notions. The old breathing technique which the Too Teh Ching
advised was directed toward “storing up” breath, the carrier of
life, and continued to exist along with gynmastics as a therapy.
Already Tang Chuan-shu during the second century b.c. rejected
passionate desire as dangerous to eflBcient breathing. The Su
Wen, of post-Christian origin according to de Groot, was con¬
sidered a classical text on the scientific method of breathing.
To this method were added fu, i.e., brushstrokes of the charis¬
matic mandarins on amulets and the like. We wish, however, to
put aside these matters which are taken from de Groot To us
the tremendous geomantic development of the jang shu or fSng-
shui (“wind and water”) is of incomparably greater significance.

We noticed with de Groot that the chronomancers (shih) de¬
termined the time for all sorts of building. But it was of greatest
import that they came to determine the forms and location of
construction. After a struggle between several geomantic schools
during the ninth century the school of “forms” triumphed over
the more substantively animist opponent.^^ The far greater op¬
portunities for these geomancers to receive fees may have been
important in this.

Ever since then the forms of mountains, heights, rocks, plains,
trees, grass, and waters have been considered geomantically sig¬
nificant. A single piece of rock by its form could protect whole
areas against the attacks of evil demons. Nothing at all could be
irrelevant. Moreover the geomantically very sensitive tombs were
considered seats of pestilential influence. And geomantic control
became indispensable for all construction, even for such internal
construction as water mains in homes. Hence every death at a
neighbor s might be traced back to one’s building, or might sig¬
nify revenge; any new funeral place might disturb all the spirits
of the tombs and cause terrible misfortunes.

OHTHOIKJXY AND HETERODOXY 9 J99 «

With regard to ini^ovations, the manner of rn ini ng was always
thought especially apt to incense the spirits. Finidly, railroad ajod
factdiy inatallabons with Smoke were tlinught to have magieally
infested whole (anthracite coal Id China was used in pre-
CJiristiau rimes). The ma^c stereotyping of technology and
economics, anchored in tlii^a lidief and in the geomEmcers' inters
ests in fees, completely precluded the advent of indigenous mod-
era enterprises in communication and industry. To overcome this
stupendous barrier occidental high capitalism had to sit in die
saddle aided by the mandarins who invested tremendous for-
iimes in railroad capital. The wu and the sA/h, os well as the
chronomaiieere and geomancers, were relegated mure and more
tfj the category of ’“swindlejis.” But this could never have come
about through China's own resources,

Often detours of many miles were made because, from the
geomantic viewqpoiut, die cnnstniclion of a canal, road, or bridge
was deemed dangerous. Not infrequeatly Buddhist, that is heretic
mtinasteries, were licensed for die sake uf jf^ng shuL They were
geomantic “improvements” of nature and die munks were obliged
to engage in gcoinauricalty important ceremonials which were
highly compensated. Moreover, the proGts of dm geomancers axe
said to have reached fabulous sums indeed and every party paid
for its geomancer when a building dispute or such like was at
issue.

Thus a supcTstmchire of magically *Yational" sdcDcc, survivals
of which we find everywhere, doaked the simple empirical AitTc
of early times os well as cousiderablu tfx;hnical endowments, as
is evident from the “inventions." This super-structure consisted of
chronometry, L-hronomancy, geonumey, meteoromancy, annalis-
tics, ethics, medicine, and classical EEiantically-determiDed state¬
craft, In these the magician's position among the people was
foremost and his profit interests were often practically predomi-
nanf (hence heterodoxy). The caste of the literati in their turn,
though, took a decisive part in this ratlODolizaricin,

Cosmogonic speculation with the sacred number five operated
in terms of five planets, five elements, five organs, etc., macruensm

200 c

THK FIELICJDN" OF

anti microcosm being cortu^i^ndf^nt (apparently in an entirely
Babylonian manner^ but every comparison demonstrates it as
absolutely indigenous} This Chinese "tinlversist“ philosoj^y
and cosmagoiiy traij^fajij:kcd tber world into a magic garden. Every
Chinese fairy' lale reveals the popularity sif irratit™! magic- Wild
and xmmotivated dei ex maehina swarm through the world and
can do anything; only counteroharxns help. In the face of this
the cthJcaJ mLiDnality of the miraL-le is out of tlie [|iiesdon.

All this-to state it clearly-was not only tolerated ajid per¬
mitted but was enhanced by acknowledging thu magic image of
the world. It was anchored m the pmRt opportunities available eti
maxs^ to the wu and s}uh of all sorts. TaoUm, because of its
a-Uterate and irrational character was even more b-adiHcmalist
than Conhidiinisrn. TaoLsnn knew no ‘'ethos" of its own; magiCr
not conduct^ was decisive for man's fate. In the £na] stage of its
development this separated Taoism Irom Conlucianisni which^ as
we have seen, maintained the reverse and considered magic as
impotent in the face of virtue, Confucianism was helpless when
confronted with the magic image of tlie worlds however much it
disdained Taoism. This helplessness pre%'ented the Confucians
from being internally capable of eradicating llie fimdanientah
purely magical conceptions of the Taoi.sts. To tackle magic always
appeared dajigerotis for the Coiifuidaii''$ own power. To the sug¬
gestion that such nonsense be stopped, oae of tlie literati once
decisively answered; **\Vh^ will hinder the emperor from doing as
he pleases wLl'II be no longer ticbeves in the om/rm and pOrieni-aF^
In China the belief in magic was part of the constitutional loun-dn-
don of sovereign po^ver.

Taoist doctrine may also be differentiated from these magical
crudities aud from ''umvcrsist"’ Lhec^ry^ Even so it did not operate
more rattonally, nor did it form a coiintcrb:i lance. The doctrine
of “actions and compensafioiis “ a produoi of the Middle Ages,
was considered Taoist. As we noticedp the ^ame name was ap-
plied to the management of magic which Was not practiced by
the Buddhist bonzes. This was vested accordiiig to aU knowm

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY » 201 €

history in the hands of a special class of priests, or rather magi¬
cians who were recruited among plebeians.

As is to be expected from what has been said, Taoism shared
part of its non-ritualistic literature with Confucianism. Thus a
T^ook of secret bliss” was allegedly both Confucian and Taoist.
The same held for the general magical presuppositions.

However, as described previously, these were highly developed.
Besides, in contrast to Confucianism, they were linked with cer¬
tain positive promises for the here and now and the beyond. Dis¬
dained by the cultured intellectual stratum, the folk deities were
valued by the masses for these very promises.

Therefore, what Confucianism f^ed to do the plebeian priest¬
hood of Taoism did. They satisfied the need for a certain sys¬
tematization of the pantheon on the one hand and the canoniza¬
tion of proved human benefactors or spirits on the other. Hence
Taoism grouped together the triad of the “three pure ones.” This
consisted of the old personal God of Heaven, de-personified by
the ofiBcial doctrine as Yii-huang-shang-ti, Lao-tzu, and a third
figure of unknown derivation. It schematized the ubiquitously
worshiped and popular eight main genies (partly historical per¬
sons) as well as the other hosts of heaven. The god of the dty,
who was frequently a canonized mandarin, was guaranteed his
function as ofiBcial keeper of files concerning the fate of the in¬
habitants in the beyond; thus his function as lord over paradise
and hell was guaranteed. It took in hand the organization of his
cult (if a permanently organized cult emerged at all) and that of
the other canonized spirits of nature and of heroes. The means
were mostly raised through subscription by the local interest
groups and they took turns; masses were read by the priests only
at the great festivals.

Thus an unofiBcial, though tolerated and genuine cult was
established. Since the time of the earliest writers who professed
to be Lao-tzu's “disciples” an esoteric Taoism existed alongside it,
treating those endowed with the gift of Too as carriers of super¬
human forces of all sorts and passing on to them the task of
providing magical goods to the needy.

» 202 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

This development was by no means astonishing if, after what
has been said, there was a real historical connection between this
esoteric Taoism and Lao-tzu or other mystics. Here no path could
be found from the aristocratic charisma of man endowed with
grace to rational asceticism. Here as elsewhere the development
of non-classical contemplation per se and of early anchoretism
necessarily led directly from the mystic pantheist union with the
divine to sacramental magic. That is, it led to magical influence
over the world of the spirits and practical adjustment to the
magical lawfulness of their operation. As we have already dis¬
cussed in the introduction, ^ the aristocratic salvation of men
partaking of illumination could scarcely have taken any other
road to folk-religiosity.

For pohtical reasons, anthropolatry was as httle tolerated by
the Chinese government in the nineteenth century as it had been
earlier. Such anthropolatric development usually appears when
a turn toward ritualism is made and when aristocratic redemption
by illumination is adjusted to the needs of the masses. Then the
charismatic magician, as a carrier of the “Yang”-substance be¬
comes an object of worship and a hving “redeemer.” Adoration
and prayer for good harvests along with cultist worship of a hving
bearer of charisma is reported from the fourth century b.c.®® The
later practice of orthodoxy, however, allowed this only were the
persons deceased and preferably were they charismatically proven
oflBcials. There were careful attempts to forestall naming any
hving man a prophet or savior. This was in case he proceeded
beyond the ineradicable magical techniques of the specialists or
in case his practices suggested a tendency toward hierocratic
formation.

Nevertheless, Taoism repeatedly succeeded in gaining the ac¬
knowledgment of the emperors. In the eleventh century a Taoist
system of examinations with five grades was established alongside

• [Cf. From Max Weber, Essays in Sociology, tr. edited and with an
Introduction by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, Oxford University
Press, New York, 1946, Ch. XI, pp. 267-301.J ^

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

203 «

the orthodox examinations and modeled after them. In such cases
the question was one of making offices and prebends accessible
to students educated in Taoism. However, the Confucian school
unanimously protested every case and succeeded in driving the
Taoists from their enjoyment of prebends. For in its economic and
social aspects, the dispute revolved about the tax yields of the
empire and who was to enjoy them. Yet in these confficts, also,
the profound internal antagonism of Confucianism toward all
emotional religiosity and toward magic had its effects. As we have
seen, it was almost always through the eunuchs and the harem,
the traditional enemies of the literati, that the Taoist sorcerers
found their way to the palace.

In 741, a eunuch succeeded in becoming the president of the
Academy. Always the proud, masculine, rational, and sober spirit
of Confucianism, similar to the mentality of the Romans, struggled
against interference in the guidance of the state when such inter¬
ference was based upon the hysterical excitation of women given
to superstition and miracles. The contrast continued to exist in
this form up to the last days of the dynasty. We have quoted in a
different connection a Hanlin professor’s report of 1878 concern¬
ing the general unrest due to a great drought. He expressly rec¬
ommended to the two ruling Empresses that to maintain and
restore the cosmic order not excitement, but only a “composed
and unshaken spirit” and beyond that the correct discharge of
the ethical and ritualistic duties of state were necessary. In true
Confucian manner the petitioner added that he claimed neither
the gift of revealing the secrets of the demons and spirits nor of
divining signs; and he continued with the distinctly polemical
point that tiie eunuchs and servants of the still youthful emperor
should beware of the superstitious prattle which is an inherent
danger of heterodoxy. He concluded, with the above-quoted ad¬
monition, that the Empresses should do justice to the situation in
no way other than practicing virtue. This document of the Con¬
fucian spirit is impressive in its proud frankness and at the same
time it reveals unmistakable echoes of the old antagonism.^*^

» 204 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

10. The Ethic of Taoism

AS WE HAVE seen, it was decisive for the adherence of mer¬
cantile circles to Taoism that their special god of wealth, the
vocational god of the merchants, was cultivated by the Ta'oists.
Taoism brought quite a number of such special deities to a posi¬
tion of honor. Thus the hero of the imperial troops was canonized
as a god of war; student deities, gods of erudition and especially
gods of longevity were honored. As with the Eleusian mysteries
the center of gravity for Taoism was its promise of health, wealth,
and happy life in this world and in the beyond. In theory, the
spirits held out rewards and punishments for all deeds, be it in
this world or in the beyond- be it for the actor or, in contrast to
the doctrine of migration of souls, his descendants. The promises
of a beyond were especially attractive to a large public. For both
the Taoist and the Confucian, it was implicitly understood that
just as “correct living” is decisive for the individual’s behavior, so
the correct living" of the prince is decisive for the fate of the
realm and the cosmic order. Therefore Taoism, too, had to raise
ethical demands, but its unsystematic beginnings toward coimect-
ing the fate in the beyond with an ethic remained inconsequential.

Naked magic, never seriously fought by the stratum educated in
Confucianism, was rampant again and again. For this reason and
in the way described, Taoist doctrine was increasingly developed
as sacramental therapy, alchemy, macrobiotics, and a technique
for gaining immortality. The enemy of the literati who instigated
*e burning of the books was united with the literati through the
immortality-brews of the Taoists. His expedition in search of the
isles of the immortals in the Eastern Sea is reported in the Annals.
Other rulers turned to the Taoists because of their attempts at
producing gold. Among the officials educated in literature-the
stratum which dominated the way of life of the educated-the
original meaning of Lao-tzu’s teaching was not understood
and its consequences were sharply rejected. The magic of the
priests bearing his name, however, was treated with tolerant dis¬
dain and regarded as a diet suitable for the masses.

ORTHODOXY and HETKHtiBOXY

» 205 *

lu geticnd, ^olngifits do not doubt that Taoism m its hier^
ancbical organization, its fommtiou of a pantheon (e^spedally the
triad of supieuic god^)^ and its cmkic form^ has copied much if
not eveiything from Buddhism, but the degree of dependency
is disputable.

Ji. The Traditionali<:t CJiQfactef
of ChiTw^e Orthodox and
Heterodox Ethics

TAOISMj in its effects, was essentiaDy wen more traditionalist
than orthodox Confucianisni. Nothing else could be expected from
its znagjcany oriented technique of salvatitin nor from its sor¬
cerers. For their entire economic existence made them directly
iutcrested in conserving traditian and especially the transmitted
demonology. Hence, it is not surprising to find ascribed to Taoism
the explicit and principled fommlation: *"00 not introduce inno¬
vations." In any ease not only was there no path leading from
Taoism to a rational method of lifCp 1)c it inner or oLhcr-worltUy^
but Taoist magio necessarily became one of the most serious
obsLaclc^s to ^uch a devetopmunL For laymen the genuine ethical
imperatives In later Taoism were substantially the same as those
in Confuemmsm; while the Taoist expected personal advantages
the Confudan expected rather the good conjfcieoce of the gende-
man from their fulfillment. While the Confudan operated \vith
the polar opposites "right" and "wran^ die Taoist, fiko all magi¬
cians, operated rather with "dean undean." Despite the interest
ill immortality and in rewards and pnnishNierits in tlie beyond
the Taoist retained a worldly orientatioii hke the Confucian. The
foiinrler of the Taoist hiemrcliy is said to have expressly appro¬
priated the words of the philosopher Cbnang-tzu, which surpass
AchillKs'' statement® in the oethenvorid: “The turtle prefers lidng
and dragging its tail through dirt to being dead and worshipped
iu a temple."

Indeed we have to remind ourselves that magic also retained
* Cf. Homer, T/uj Odfjssttj, Book XT,

> 208 «

THE HELIGION OF CHINA

its acknowledged place in orthodox Confucianism, and that it had
its traditionalist effects. We have mentioned that as recently as
1883 a censor protested utilizing modem techniques in building
dykes at the Huang Ho because this would deviate from the way
planned by the classics. Undoubtedly the fear of causing unrest
among the spirits was decisive in this. Conhicianism strictly re¬
jected the emotional ecstasy to be found only among the popular
magicians, the apathetic ecstasy among the Taoists, and every
form of monachal asceticism. In general, all magic was rejected
as “irrationar in this psychological sense.

Neither in its officii state cult nor in its Taoist aspect could
Chinese religiosity produce sufficiently strong motives for a reli¬
giously oriented life for the individual such as the Puritan method
represents. Both forms of religion lacked even the traces of a
Satanic force of evil against which the pious Chinese, whether
orthodox or heterodox, might have stmggled for his salvation.
The traly Confucian wisdom of life was “civic" in the sense that
officialdom possessed an optimist rationalism. It had its supersti¬
tious elements as is the case with all enlightenment As a “status”
religion it was a morale of literary intellectualism whose specific
note was pride in education.

In view of the actual distribution of fortunes and the unpre¬
dictability of man s destiny the fact was necessarily faced that the
greatest utilitarian optimism and conventionalism imaginable did
not satisfy even modest demands for justice in this best of all
possible social orders. Misfortunes and injustice in this order were
supposed to be the result only of individual educational deficien¬
cies or governmental charismatic deficiencies or, according to Tao¬
ist doctrine, the result of magical trespasses. The eternal problem
of theodicy also necessarily emerged here. For the Confucian, at
least, neither a beyond nor a migration of souls was conceivable.
But indications of a somewhat esoteric belief in predestination
are traceable in the classic scriptures. The conception was rather
dualist in meaning since the Chinese bureaucracy was charac¬
teristically a stratum of literati who were essentially distanced

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

> 207 4C

from the heroism of warriors and at the same time a status group
which was segregated from purely bourgeois life.

Folk belief apparently lacked any conception of providence.
However, it developed a distinct, if incipient, astrological belief
that the stars ruled over the individuals fate. The belief in provi¬
dence does not seem entirely foreign to Confucian esoterics, in¬
sofar as one may speak of such esoterics. In general, however,
providence did not refer to the concrete fate of the individual
man, as is evident especially in Mencius. It referred only to the
harmony and the eventual destiny of the social collectivity per se,
as is the case with all primitive community cults. But Confucian¬
ism did not really work out the specific concept of predestination,
for example, in the sense of the Hellenic moira, an irrational,
impersonal, and fateful power determining the great peripeteia of
individual life. This conception is specific to all purely human
heroism which has always proudly refused to believe in a benevo¬
lent providence. Both elements existed side by side.

Confucius obviously regarded his mission and its underlying
influences as positively and providentially ordered. To be sure,
beside this is found the belief in irrational moira, with a charac¬
teristic twist. Only the “superior man,” it is said, knows of fate;
and without behef in fate, one cannot be a cultured man. Here
as elsewhere, the faith in providence served to underpin the kind
of Stoic heroism which alone is accessible to the intellectual
literati, namely, a “preparedness” approximating Montaigne s at¬
titude. That meant accepting the unalterable with equanimity
and in so doing the attitude of the cultivated and educated
cavalier was proved. Common man, without fate or fearsome of
fate, pursues happiness and goods; or he faces the change of
fortune with resignation as fatum—not as kismet, even though in
practice the latter seemed to be the case according to missionary
reports. Confucian “superior” man, however, learned to hve in the
knowledge of fate and to face up to it inwardly with proud equa¬
nimity. For he was devoted to his personality and its perfection.^®

In addition to other irrational elements of Confucian rationalism

» 208 « THE RELIGION OF CHINA

known to us it is evident that this faith in irrational predestination
also served to support gentility. This faith rejected a completely
rational this-worldly theodicy, at least for the individual. There¬
fore, some philosophers rejected as ethically dangerous a faith
which produced tension within the otherwise rationalist system
of Confucianism. The Confucian belief in predestination, how¬
ever, differs in meaning from the Puritan belief in predestination
which is oriented to a personal god and his omnipotence. Also the
Puritan firmly and clearly rejects the benevolence of providence
but in so doing, he looks out for himself in the beyond. In Con¬
fucianism, however, neither the cultured nor the common man
bothered about the beyond. The cultured Confucian's one interest
beyond death was that his name be honored; to protect this honor
he had to be prepared to endure death. Confucian rulers and
generals indeed knew how to die proudly when Heaven was
against them in the high gamble of war and human destiny. They
knew better how to die than their Christian colleagues, as we in
Germany know," The strongest motive for highminded deport¬
ment known to Confucianism^® may well have been this specific
sense of borior, which characterized a cultured man and was
linked essentially to a man’s accomplishments not to his birth. In
this regard the Confucian way of life was oriented to status and
not to “bourgeois" values in sense of the Occident.

This implies that such an ethic of intellectuals was necessarily
limited in its significance for the broad masses. First, the local and
next the social differences in education were enormous. The
traditionalist and hitherto strong subsistence economy was main-
^ed among the poorer strata of the people by a masterful art of
thrift (in the sense of consumption). This almost unbelievably
mtensive thrift vras unequaled anywhere else in the world It w^
possible only with a standard of living which precluded any in¬
ternal relationship to the gentleman ideals of Confucianism Here
as elsewhere only the gestures and external forms of behavior of
the ruling stratum could be generally assimilated.

Germany and their exit in

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY » 209 «

In all probability the educated stratum decisively influenced
the way of life of the masses through negative effects. On the one
hand, the emergence of a prophetic religiosity was completely
mhi bited and, on the other, the orgiastic elements of animist re¬
ligiosity were almost completely expurgated. Possibly this deter¬
mined at least part of those traits which are sometimes considered
racial quahties of the Chinese. Above all the cool temperature of
Confucian social ethics might be so considered as well as its re¬
jection of other than purely personal ties among family members,
students or companions.

The retention of personalism is especially evident in its effect
on social ethics. Hitherto in China no sense of obligation ha s
existed toward impersonal communities, be they of political, ideo¬
logical, or any other nature.^^^ All social ethics in China merely
transferred the organic relations of piety to other relations con¬
sidered similar to them. Within the five natural social relations the
duties to master, father, husband, older brother (including the
teacher), and friend comprised the sum total of the ethically
binding. There was no element of devotion in the Confucian
principle of reciprocity, which was basic to all natural fimctional
obligations outside these relationships. There are duties which
have always been firmly rooted in the genuine social ethics of the
neighborhood association. Especially is there the obligatory hb-
eral hospitality and charity of the propertied, everywhere praised
by sacred singers as a sign of noble living. This has been assimi¬
lated by all religious ethics.

Under the impact of Confucian rationalism and conventionalism
in life-conduct these duties assumed a strongly formalist charac¬
ter. This was especially true of the “practicing of virtue,” the
characteristic and usual expression for tiie form of hospitality for
the poor held on the eighth day of the twelfth month. Alms¬
giving, the primitive and central imperative of all religious ethics,
had become a traditional tribute which it was dangerous to with¬
hold. The Christian significance of alms led to regarding the
“poor” as a god-ordained “estate” within the Christian community,
since their existence was necessary for saving the souls of the

* £10 «

THK RELIGION OF CHINA

ricli. lu Cliuiu tlie poor had gathered iuto well-tirganized guilds
which no one lighdy risk<7d having as his prineipicd enemy.

In general, it may well represent die normal case for it Is not
only in China that climity is espeeted to begin solely where dicrc
is a LtiuL-rete personal or functional cause. Experts knowing the
onuntry can alone judge whetlier tliis alleged charity is actually
stronger in China llian elsewhere. As oU magical religion origi¬
nally did, Chinese folk religion considered permanent botlfly ail¬
ments a result of some ritual sin. Siutai no motive of religious
sympathy came into the balance it may well be the case that this
sCuLiment was not particularly developed, despite the great praise
which ethics (Mencius) bestowed upon the social value of sym-
paAy. In any case sympatliy was not greatly developed on the
soil of Confucianism. Even the (hetciodos) lepresejatativcs of
love for one's enemies (Mo Ti, for instance ) justified sympathy cm
essentially utilitarian grounds.

Since the sacred personal duties of social ethics could conflict
with one another, dicy liad to be relativized. This is evident in
the compulsory division of familial and fiscal interests, in suiddes
and the refusals of fathers to arrest tbeir sons (for high treason).
Bamboo canings were decreed for officials who mcTumed too little
and in him for those who moumcd too much. The latttrr were
troublesome to the administration because they icfuaed office.

A conDict iu the Cbristian manner between the interest in the
salvation nf ones soul and the demands of the natural social order
was inconceivable. Any contrast between “god" or "nature” and
"statutory law” or "cuiiveritiou" or any other binding force was
absent. Therefore, any religious or religiously substructnied nat¬
ural law which might have produced tension or led tn compromise
with a sinful or nonsensical world was absent. The only esceptions
were the slight beginnings of natural law mentioned above* as is
at once obvious from the instances in the classics which occasion-
ally refer to the “natural." In these instances, what is meant is
always tliu cOL-anns oflha internally harmonic order of nature and
stJciKly. Certainly, hardly anyone was really expected to attain
the level of absolute peifectiaD. Every man, however, is quite

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOX T > 511 c

adequate for acquiring a sulQcIcui dEgree of p^rsonol perfectioD
witlim lIje ^joda] orders. He is not in the least hiodcred from this
in prncHciug the official social virtues: iiamel)r, human kiRdncss,
rightenosness, frankness^ ritual piety and kno^vledge, whether
with a more active (Confucian) or more contemplative (Taoist)
coloration. As we have repeatedly noticed, the luler mauHiciently
eiidowei:! with charisma is personally guilty if the Kocial order
fails in regard to the welfare and coatentment of all;, regardless of
whether or uot he has fulfilled the above-mentioned duties.

Cunfucianisan, therefore, knew no blissful original state at least
according to classical doctrlnt:. It merely knew uncultured bar-
barism at tlie pre-dvilized stage* for whJeh there was ilie ready
cKample of the savage mouatain tribes who always threatened
invasion.

WTien questioned how man was to be improved in the short¬
est time, the Master stonily replied that one should first enrich,
then edneate man. As a matter of fad, the English formalistic
“How do you do?* characteristically correKponded to the greetiag
forjiinia of the Chinese, “Have you eaten rioeP^ Since poverty' and
!ftiipidity were the sole original sins, so to say^ and ^ince education
and economic life were all-powerful m stamping man, Confucian¬
ism necessarily viewed the possibility of a golden age not as an
innocent and primitive state of nature but rather as an optimal
state of ailture.

Now, a striking passage of tlie classical scriptures describes a
condition in which imperial dignity is not determined by hered¬
ity but by election. Farents do not love thfiir children simply
because they are theirs or mce versa; and children, widows^ the
the cMdless, and the diseased arc maiutained from com-
rnon funds. Men have their work and women their homes. GfK>ds,
to be sure, arc saved bnt not accumulated for private ends; work
doe.s not serve individual advantage and Lhicvcs :ind rebels do
not exist# All doors am 0[>en and tlie sbite is not a power state.
This IS die **gTcat p-ith"' and it results fa the "“great b(imngeneity*“
tu contrast, the empirical coercive order witli the indixidual right
of inheritance, the mdividnal family* the mflftory penver state, and

» 212 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

the exclusive rule of individual interest is called, in characteristic
terminology, the “little tranquaity.” The description of this anar¬
chist social ideal falls so far outside the framework of empirical
Confucian social thought and, especially, is so irreconcdable with
the filial piety basic to all Confucian ethics that orthodoxy has
partly inferred textual corruption and partly sensed “Taoist”
heterodoxy (as Legge did, by the way).

Nowadays, for understandable reasons, K’ang Yu-wei’s modem
school would quote this statement in proof of the Confucian
legitimacy of the ideal socialist future. Actually this statement,
like many other of the Li Chi, may well be expressive of the view
which de Groot presents especially clear. That is: many doc¬
trines, often considered heterodox or at least non-classical or even
considered a special religion, were originally related to orthodoxy
in about the way Christian mysticism was related to Catholicism
and Sufist mysticism to Islamism.

Only artificially could the grace of an ecclesiastic institution be
brought to compromise with the mystic s individual search for
salvation. But the ecclesiastic institution must not in principle
reject mysticism per se.

Confucian optimism ultimately concluded and hoped to attain
perfection on earth solely through the individual’s ethical strength
and through the power of orderly administration. Eventually this
created tension since it is an equally basic Confucian view that
the material and ethical welfare of the individual and the whole
people is ultimately determined by the charismatic qualities of
the ruler who is legitimated by Heaven and by the welfare policy
of his officials. This very doctrine, however, led Taoism to its own
conclusions. The doctrine that the source of all good was absten¬
tion from action was held to be heterodox. But it was only the
final conclusion of orthodox Confucian optimism turned into
mysticism. Its acosmistic trust in its own qualification and the
resultant devaluation of institutional grace led immediately to the
danger of heresy. To surpass the this-worldly morality of laymen
by searching for special paths to salvation was dubious for insti-

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

» 213 «

tutional grace just as in the case of ecclesiastic non-asceticist
Protestantism.

We have seen that Tao as the “path” to virtue was perfectly
imderstood and was also a central orthodox Confucian concept.
Mysticism could refer to the significance of the god-willed, Ae
natural, cosmic, and social harmony from which Ae principle of
non-interference could be deduced. Mysticism could do this as
well as the aforementioned, more or less consistent laissez-faire
theories of some Confucians. The latter reserved state interven¬
tion for cases of all too dubious excess in the differentiation of
wealth. For Confucianism to ascertain whether these doctrines
were still orthodox was just as diflScult and doubtful as it was for
the medieval church to determine whether or not a mystic was
still orthodox. Thus, it is understandable why de Groot rejects
altogether the usual treatment of Taoism as a special rehgion
alongside Confucianism. The religious edicts of the emperors re¬
peatedly and expressly mention Taoism alongside Buddhism as a
merely tolerated, non-classical faith. In contrast to this, the so¬
ciologist has to consider in fact the special hierocradc organi¬
zation.

Ultimately, the substantive differences between orthodox and
heterodox doctrines and practices, as well as any decisive pecu-
harides of Confucianism, had two sources. On the one hand, Con¬
fucianism was a status ethic of the bureaucracy educated in litera¬
ture; on the other hand, piety and especially ancestor-worship
were retained as pohdcally indispensable foundadons for patri-
monialism. Only when these interests appeared to be threatened
did the instinct of self-preservadon in the r ulin g stratum react by
attaching the sdgma of heterodoxy

12. Sects and the Persecution of
Heresies in China

THE most important and absolute limit to pracdcal tolerance for
the Confucian state consisted in the fundamental importance of
the ancestor cult and this-worldly piety for the docility of the

* 214 « THE RELIClOX OF CHINA

*

patrL'iiOnial subjccL^^ The tolerance of tlie state evinced both
affin!h>« \vi\h and differences from the comparable attittide in
occidental allliquit}^ The state cult knew only the oilicial great
However^ on given ootsisions the empi^ror saluted the Tao¬
ist and Buddhist shrines, too, with the qualification that a polite
bow was deemed suliicicut instead of a Kotow wliich Kveii
made to St Confticius, The state paid for geomantfc services’^
and the fing shui were oihei&lly rceoguizetL'^*

Occasional suppressions of exorcists from Tibet were to be
found; the ancients called them tt-u-so it was sakl hi i1j« dc-
oTum concerning them.^^ These suppressions, to be Sure, occLured
simply for police reasons. The city mandarin oCGcially pariieipated
iu the LTilt tjf die TaiHJii city gt>d and the canonizations by die
Taoist patriarch required the imperial placet. No cbiims to “free¬
dom of cotiscieiice" were guamnteed^ unr were purely religious
views persecuted as a rule, unless either magical reasons (similar
to the religious trials of the Hellenes) or jKilitiiza] considf^rations
called lor siidi ptrsuLutioiii-. These cJinsiderations, however^ were
rather exacting.

The religious edicts of cuipcroni made the persecution of heresy
a duty. Even a writer like Mencius agreed with this. The means,
latensity, concept, and scope of “heresy'" duiiigiMl, The Chinese
Statif fought iicrcsics, which in its vi^w were hostile tO the slate^
partly through indoctrination (as late as the □incteentli century
by an oDiciaUy dis^lbuted cdueatioml i^otrm of a monarch).
Partly it did su by fire and sword, Ifkc the Catholic Church fight¬
ing the denial of sacramental grace and the Romim Empire
fighting the rojcctiou of the eult of tlic emperor.

Despite the legend of unlimited toleration in the Cliiuc.'ie state
almost every decade of the nineteenth ceutiin.- has seen all-out
persecuricinsof including the torture of Witnesses. On the

other hand almost every rebeUlon was intmiately connected with
a iitiriisy. In comparison with tlie ancient Bomon State, for in¬
stance, the Chinese state was in a special position. For it had an
exclusively and ofCdolly recognized doctrine after Confucianism
was definitively placed beside tlienffidal state eult and llie obliga-

OHTHOPOXY AND HETERODCJX^' 3 21S t

tiiiy ancestor cult of the iDdividiial, To that exteut the Cliinese
state approadied a “denominatioaol” sl^tc and stood in contrast
to iIiK pre-Christian ancient tuiptfrium. The ’^sacred edict" of 1672
(in the seventh of its sixteen sections) expressly ordered the re¬
jection of false doctrines* The orthodox doctrine^ however^ was not
a dogmatic religloD but a idiilosophy and wisdom of life. The re¬
lation would indeed have been smiilar if, for example, the Roman
emperors of tlie second cciitiiry liad officially adopted lIj« Stoic
ethic as ortliodox and had made the acecptancc of Stoic ethic
prerequisite for delegation to state offices*

In contrast to tliis the popular fcrai of sceLariim religiosity
conidsied in the ministratioiis of sacramental grace as to India.
And evcfywhcre this ha]]pez]i^ on the soil of rdJgiosi^' louding to
mystic redumption. WTiether turning prophet, pnipagandist, pa¬
triarchy or father oonlessor, the mystic in Asia inevitably became
also a mystagogue. Imperial charisma of office, however, tolerated
powers with an independent authority' of grace :it its side as little
0$ the instituticinal grace of the Catholic Church eonld Iiave done.
Acetirdingly, in their arguments, the imperial edicts almost always
reproached the heretics with identical facts* First, of courae, the
fact w:is mentioned that novel and non-liccnxerl deities were wor-
xhiped, However, this point w^ax not decisive, for boslcully Lhe
whole popular pantheon deviated from tlie slate cult and was
considered noo-elassical aijd barbaric. The truJy decisive points
were rather the following three:*®

(1) TJie heretLcs handed together, allegedly in order tu practice a
virtuous life. However, they formed non-litjemed associatjorLs and man¬
aged Lullections.

(2) They had leaders, partly incamatc gods, portly palHarcbs, who
preoched compensatiDD and proaiised solvation ^ soul fn the beyond.

(3) Tliey removed the aueesUul labluts horn their houses and sepa¬
rated themselves from their parental familicx fnr the sake of monachal
nr otherwise nonn^lassieol way nf hfe.

The first point was an offeaXH against the political polioe who
prohibited nen-lir^enHed associatious* The Coiifueian xubjact was
expected to practice virtue privately in the five classical sucial

M 216 * THE RELIGION OF CHINA

f^lations. Ho did not lOquire k bccI for iliui smd tlif? vtiiy axi^ence
of a sect violated the patriarchjcal principle on which the state
rested

The second point for the Confucian meant defrauding the peo-
pie openly, for there was no coinpccisation in tlie heyunLl and no
spffdal salvation nf the sniil. But it also meant contempt for the
thJs-worldly diarlsma of the Confucian state ol£ce. The care fur
the (thia-warJdly) salvation of soul within the Chinese State was
the concern of the ancestors. For the rest it was the concern of the
eHicials and thcLr emperor who alone was legitimated by Heaven.
Hence, any beUef in redemption and flay striving for sacrameutal
grace threatened not only piety toward the ancestors but the
prestige of the adminlstrationH

For a Similar reason the third reproach was the most decisive
of alh To reject the ancestor cult meant to threaten tlie cardhial
virtue of politicSp i,e,j piety and on this depended discipline in the
hierarchy of offices and obedience of subjects. A religiosity which
emancipated [the subjects] from believing m the all-decisive
power of imperial diarisma and the eternal order of pious relfl'
tions w^as unbearable in prmdplt!.

The motives of the decrees, according to circumitancos, might
also bemerointilist or cthical.^^ Crmt^mplativa life, the hnivldual
contemplative search for salvationp and cspcdally tJie monaebd
m[ktence were viewed by the Confucians as parasitical laziness.
It drew income from the prcxiuctlve ciUzens^ for Llie Buddhist
men did not plough (because of the "n/iimxa ” f.e., the prohibihon
against endangering living beings, worms, and insects) and Bud¬
dhist women did not weave. Moreover^ inonkdom was quite often
a mere pretext for oacaping the public corvee. Occasionally t^ven
rulers who owed their thrones to the Taoists or Buddhists at a
time when the latter were powerful turned agalnrf them in due
course, the true kernel cjf Buddhist monachal usceti*

dsm and was repeatedly forbidden to the ckrgj^; so, tiyo, was
redcmptory preaching outside the monasteries. After ha^'iug been
placed under obUgfitoiy licenses, the monastericji were numeri-
cally sharply curtailed, as we shall point out. In coutrast, the

OHTHOI>Oxy AND ilETKftODOXY » 217 «

decisive favorji tfimporarily bestowed upon Buddhism were based
Qu the hope that ^is doctrine of jneekness might be used for
taming the subjects. It was sunikr to die introductloa of Lmuaism
uDder the Mongol Khans.

Afterward the trciiicndou.f diffusion of monasteries and die
rampaut interest in redemption very soon Jed to sharp repression.
Then In the ninth century die Bud^ist Obiirdi received the blow
from which it has never completely recovered. Fart of the
Biiildhist and Taoist monasteries were retained and were even
placed on tlm state budget, with the strict rule that every nmnl!
be publicly certified. That is. a sort of "cultural ciminination'' wos
demanded in die manner of the Prussian KuJturJcampf, According
to de Groot's very plausible assumptian, the /dug s/iul were
decisive in dils, for it was impossible to remove places once
licensed for worship Without iucurring a perhaps dangerous ex¬
citement cf the spirits. This essentiaily deteraiined the relative
toleration which was granted to hetenwdox cults for reasons of
jitate. This tolerance by no means meant positive esteem but
rather the disiiainful "toleraKou*' which is the natural attiturie of
every secular bureaucracy toward religloa. It is au attitude mod¬
erated only by the need for taming the masses.

The '‘superior ’ inan confronted these as he did all other beings
who were nttt officially worshiped for reasons of state. He fol¬
lowed the very modern principle ascribed to the Master, w*ho
advised apjjeasing the spirits by the proven ceremonials but
"keeping them at their proper distance.’' fn these tcleralod hetero¬
dox religions participation of the masses bad notlnng in conunon
with our concept of "religious afijllation." Depending on circum¬
stances, occidental man oF Antiquity worshiped Apollo or Di¬
onysos and Die fiouthern Itahan worshiped competing saints and
religious orders. So, tiK>, according to need aud prirven efficacy,
the Chiiiose paid respect to or withdrew it fmm Tooist iiuiiitics
ami Buddhist masses alike. The latter were always jarpnlar even
among the highest circles. In Peking folk customs, Buddhist and
Taoist sacraments were used side by ride and the classical ances¬
tor cult furnished tlie ground coloration. In any case It was non-

THE HELIOION OF OMINA

» 218 m

sense to enumerate the Chinese as "Buddhist" by relfgiuus affilk-
tion though tliiij often used to be done. By our yardstick only
the registered monks and priests may be caJle<:J “Buddhists."

The uionaehal form of heterodoxy did not by itself deteniune
the opposition of public authorities. Rut when Buddhism^ and
Taoism under its influence, developed communities of laymen
with married secular priusts^ that is^ when religious alBliatiOEiS of
a sort began to emerge, the government naturally intervened
quite sharply, it pke^ before the priests the choice of being
intfimed m the licunseil mOnastariEfSi or of rutuniiug to profane
vocations- Some customs copied by the sects from Indian models
were singled out for suppressiou by the govcmmciiL Such was
the case when distlngmshing signs in painting and dress were
adopted for iultiatlou ecremonics by way of ordering the no\ices
according to religious worth and the rank of thtr mysteries to
which they were admitted. At this point, the specifie aspect of
sectarianism began to develop. The value and worth of the "per-
sonalily'’ were guaranteed and legitimated not by blood ties,
status group, ur pubUcly sulhurized degreej but by being a mem-
her of and by proving oneself in a circle of .spceificiilly quallGcd
associates- TTiis basic function of all sect religiosity' is far more
odious to any compulsory iiLstihitiori of grace, to the Catijolic
Church as well as to the eesaro-papist state, iliau la ihc easily
controlled monastury.

Jiero we disregard the temporary, politically determlued pro¬
motion of LamaiTm, which meant little historically. \Ve hkewise
disregard the desbny of Chinese Iskmlsic,*" which was quite
important, and the lot of Jewry, vvhich was reduced in a peculiar
way and. unlike anywhere else in tlic world, strongly divested of
its character. The IslaiiiJte IuiiLh in the f;ir West of the empire are
mentioned lu some edicts with a characteristic request that crimi¬
nals be mid to them as slaves.

The persecution of the "European WEirship of the Tjord from
Heaven'" which was the official name of Christiamty, will not bo
discussed here, an omiRsiEui which requires no further e^cplonatiou.
This pensecutTon would have occurred despite greater tactfulness

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

219 €

among the missionaries. Only military force led to contractually
stipulated toleration once the meaning of Christian propaganda
had been recognized. The old religious edicts to the people argued
for the toleration of the Jesuits by explicitly mentioning their
astronomical services.

The number of sects (de Groot enumerates fifty-six) was not
small and their following was large, especially in Honan, and in
some other provinces. Sectarian adherents were often found
among the servants of mandarins and among the personnel of
the rice fleet. The fact that orthodox (ching) Confucianism treated
every heterodoxy (i tuan) as attempted rebellion—such is the way
of the church-state—has impelled most of them to use force.
Quite a few sects go back half a millennium and some are even
older, despite the persecution.

13. The Tai P'ing Rebellion

IT WAS not an insurmountable “natural disposition” that hin¬
dered the Chinese from producing rehgious structures comparable
to those of the Occident. In recent times this has been proved by
the impressive success of Hung Hsiu-chuan’s iconoclastic and
anti-magical prophecy of the 'Tien Wang (“Heavenly King”) of
the Tai Tien Kuo (Heavenly Kingdom of Peace; from

1850-1864). To our knowledge it was by far the most powerful
and thoroughly hierocratic, politico-ethical rebellion against the
Confucian administration and ethic which China has ever ex-
perienced.®® The founder allegedly®^ belonged to a rusticated sib
of nobles and was a severely epileptic*^^ and ecstatic man. Like
the Byzantine iconoclasts of Islamism, and perhaps stimulated in
part through the influence of Protestant missions and the Bible,
he radically and puritanically rebuked every belief in spirits,
magic, and idolatry. His ethic was half mystic-ecstatic and half
ascetic. He was educated in Confucianism, had failed to pass his
state examination, and was influenced by Taoism. The Genesis
and the New Testament belonged to the canonical books of the
sect which he had founded with the support of his sib. Among

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THE RELIGION OF CHINA

the customs and symbols of the sect were; a water bath copied
from baptism, instead of the Lord s Supper, a sort of tea-eucharist
due to abstention from alcohol, the modified Lord s Prayer, and
a likewise characteristically modified Decalogue. Besides, he
quoted the Shih Ching and other classical works by selecting a
medley of passages to suit his purposes. In so doing, he fell back,
of course, like all reformers, on announcements and orders of the
emperors of the legendary archaic period.

The result was a peculiar mixture of Christian and Confucian
forms, reminiscent of Mohammed s eclecticism. We find the God
Father of Christianity^^ and Jesus®^ at his side—though “holy," not
in substance his equal. Finally, we find the prophet as Christ s
“younger brother" and upon him the holy spirit rested.®® There
was profound horror of the veneration of saints and images and
especially of the cult of the Virgin Mother. Prayers were at fixed
hours, sabbatical rest was on Saturdays with two services which
included Bible reading, htany, sermon, reading of the Decalogue,
and hymns. We find the Christmas festival, the ministerial cere¬
mony of (insoluble) wedlock, the admissibihty of polygamy,
prohibition of prostitution under pain of capital punishment, and
rigid segregation of unmarried women and men. We find also
strict abstinence from alcohol, opium, and tobacco; the abohtion
of the braid and of the crippling of women’s feet; and propidary
sacrifices at the tomb of the dead.®®

Like the orthodox emperor, the Tien Wang was supreme
pontifex. The officials of the five highest boards next to him had
the tides of “King” of the West, East, South, North, and a fifth
King served as an assistant. The three examination degrees were
also to be found in the Tai P’ing empire. Traffic in offices was
abolished and all officials were nominated by the Emperor. The
maga 2 dne storage policy and the corvee were taken from the old
orthodox practice, but important differences existed in some
points such as the strict separation of “external” and “internal"
administration. For the latter, women were drawn into economic
life as leaders. The policy of communication, road building and
commerce was relatively “liberal.” The contrast in principle was

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY

221 «

about the same as that between Cromwell s regiment of Saints—
with some traits reminiscent of early Islamism and the anabaptist
regime of Munster—and Laud s cesaro-papist state.

In theory the state was the commonwealth of an ascetic order
of warriors. A typical military booty communism was intermixed
with acosmistic charity in the early Christian manner; nationalist
instinct was pushed into the background in favor of international
religious fraternization. OflBcials were to be selected according to
religious charisma and proven moral worth. The administra¬
tive districts were districts for mihtary recruitment and provision¬
ing on the one hand; on the other, they were church parishes with
prayer halls, state schools, hbraries, and clerics appointed by
the Tien Wang. Mihtary discipline was as puritanically strict as
the order of life. Jewelry and all precious metals were confiscated
in order to defray collective expenditures.®^ Suitable women were
also enrolled in the army. Payments from a conunon fund were
made to famihes drafted for administrative functions.®®

In ethics the Confucian behef in fate was brought into connec¬
tion with vocational virtue®®—a transposition made in the spirit
of the New Testament. Moral “rectitude,” in heu of the ceremonial
correctitude of the Confucian, “differentiates man from animal”;®®
and with the prince too, everything depended on rectitude.®^ For
the rest Confucian “reciprocity” held, except for the command¬
ment which prohibited one from saying that he did not wish to
love his enemy. With this ethic “happiness is easily obtainable.”
In contrast to Confucianism, however, human natme by itself was
considered incapable of really fulfilling all the commandments.®^
Repentance and prayer were means of redemption from sin. Mili¬
tary bravery was held to be the most important and god-pleasing
virtue.®® Taoist magic and Buddhist idolatry were as sharply re¬
jected as the orthodox cult of spirits. This was in contrast to the
friendly attitude toward Jewry and Protestant Christianity. Prot¬
estant missionaries of the Dissenting and of the Low Church
repeatedly held services in Tai Fing prayer halls. But from the
beginning the Anglican High Church and the Jesuits were hostile
because of the iconoclasm and the sharp rejection of the cult of

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THE R^LiClON OF

the Virgin Mcither. Due to tlic religious discipline behmd their
crusedc, the T*jii P*ing armies were superiur to the armies of
the orthodox gijvemmeiit us CromwcU^s fttmy was to that of the
King.

For political and oommerdaF^ reasQiis^ Lord Fabnerston s gov-
eniijiciit saw lit to prevent this church-estate him gaiiuiig the
upper band ami especially to prevent the treaty harbor of Shang¬
hai from falling into Its handsp*^ With the aid of Gordon and the
Navy the Tai Fing power was broken. Given to visionary ecjsta-
sies and a seraglio existenrje,®'* the T"ieii Wang had secluded him¬
self for years in the palace. After the fourteen years his realm hatl
lasted he finished his life and that of his harem by self-cremation
in his Naiddng residence. As much as a decade later ‘'reber
leaders were still taken prisoners.®^ The human loss, the financial
weakness^ and the devastation of the particuki provinces were
not fully retrieved for a much longer tiinep

The Tai F mg etliiL% after what was said abovc^ was a peculiar
mlicture of chilia^c-ecstatle and ascetic elements. The latter wun
outstandiijg and was uiisnr|>a£sed anywhere else in China. More¬
over, the magical and idolatrous fetters were broken and this vm
unknown elsewhere in China. The personally benign and um-
vETSal god of the wiJrlil^ freed of national bjnriers, was adopted.
And this god would otherwise have remolited entirely alien to
Chinese religion. To be sure, one can hardly .say what develop¬
mental course this religion might have taken in case of victory.
Sacrifices at the aneestml tombs had to be retained just as the
Jesuit mhuiifinN liad to allow them until the curia intervened upon
the denunciation of competing orders. The beginning emphasis
on concebiess in good worksf might liave It^d agnin into ritualist
tracks. The increasing ceremonial regulation of aU public order***
might weD have restored tiic principle of iiLstitutioiial grace.
Ne:verthf?le5s, the movement signified a break with orthodosy in
important points and it allowed an indigeuokjs religion to arise
wlucli inwardly was relatively close to Christianity. This op[Xjr-
tnnity was incomparably greater than that ollercd by the hopeless
missionary experiments of tlic occidental denominationxp And It

OHTHODOXIt: AK1> fel^TEKOJ?OXY » 223 «

may %veil haw bwn the last opportuxkity for such a religiou iu
China.

Pnliticallyj the concept of "private associatiCTi'' was strongly
suspect even before this; afterword It come to be largely identi-
titrd witli treaiiOn.'' Dfispite the tough stniggle the bureanc-

racy opposed a merciless persecution of this ‘'silent Chino.** It
was a persecution at least externally suneessful hi the dties and
fnr understandable reasons less conspicuous in the open country.
The quiet and correct-hving man anxiously stayed away from su^
affainj. This attitude ndnforced the trait of “pCiTfOiudism” wliJcll
we have treated above.

The Confudan litcrati-bupeauciacy Largely succeeded in con¬
fining sect formation to an occasional flare-up. This it did by
using force and by appealing to the belief in spirits. Moreover^
all sects about which detaiied iiifonnatlcin is available were abso¬
lutely heterogeneous as compared with the sectarian movement
with which ocddeatal Catholldsm or Anglicanism had to deal.
It was always a mattEr of inpamatiun prophecy ur of prophets of
the mystagogue type who were often in possession of this heredi'
tai;y dignity for gentrraUous, They lived secretively and promised

advantages to their followers in thM world An in the be¬

yond. Thtii redcmptoiy prerequisites, however, were of an ex¬
clusively magical, E^cramentab ritualist or at the mnsh contexn-
plativc-eestatie character. The regularly recurrent soterlological
means were ritual purity, devout repetition of the same furmulH,
or certain contemplative exercises. As far as is known, rattonal
asoetidsm is never found.*™

As we have seenp genuine heterodox Taoist humility and rejec-
tion of all feudal ostentatioa were essentially motivated by con¬
templation. The same held undoubtedly for the aKstentiEm from
certain kinds of luxury consumption (perfumes, precious orna¬
ments ) which the Lung-hue sccL c.g., imposed upon its believers,
in addition to the regular rules of Biiddhisft sects. Asceticism was
also absent where sects coiisidcred using forec in figbtiiig their
oppressors and therefore systematically prnetToed boxing, hke the
famous sect in modern dmes*'^ The “League of righteous energy/"

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

» 224 ^

the real name of the “Boxers’^ in English^ sought invulnerability
through magical training

All these sects were derivatives and eclecticist fusions of
heterodox Taoist and Buddhist soteriology* They did not contrib¬
ute any important nev^ elements to the latter.

The sects apparently did not follow class lines. Naturally, the
mandarins were the most strictly orthodox Confucians. But het¬
erodox Taoists and especially the followers of the Lung-hua
sect--essentiaDy practicing a house cult with prayer-formula—
appeared to be rather numerous among the propertied classes
from which the mandarins were also recruited.

Women obviously formed a strong contingent here as in all
soteriological religions. This is easy to understand because their
religious evaluation by the (heterodox, hence unpolitical) sects in
China as in the Occident rated, in most instances, significantly
above their level of esteem in Confucianism,

14. The Result of the Development

THE elements borrowed from or influenced by Taoism or
Buddhism obviously played a considerable role in the workaday
life of the masses. In the Introduction® it was stated generally that
religions of salvation and saviors always found their permanent
and pre-eminent locus among the ^civic” classes and usually dis¬
placed magic among them. At first they offered the only retreat
available to the suffering and needy individual per se. The purely
religious communities of mystagogues usually grew out of the
individual search for salvation with the magician.

In China, where the state cult also took no note of individual
distress, magic has never been displaced by a great prophecy of
salvation or by an indigenous savior-religion. Only a substratum
of redemptory religiosity emerged which corresponded partly to
the HeUenic mysteries and partly to HeUenic orphics. This re¬
ligiosity in China was stronger than in Hellas but it remained
purely magical in character, Taoism was merely an organization
• Cf, From Max Weberr Essays in Soa^olog^, pp. 284 ff.

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY • 225 *

uf mAglfiiiajis. Budclhijrm id ibi impDrted form was DO lODgfr th^
redemptory religion of early Indian Buddhism^ hut bad become
the magicd and mystagogical practice of a monastio organiza¬
tion* Hence, in both case^ the formation of ndigiau^ coinxnunities,
at least for laymen, was lacking; and that k sodolo^cally decisive*
The popular^ redeinptory rdigians which were stuck in magfe
were usually quite unsocial. The indhidual qua indiddual tinriEc]
to the Taoist magidan or Buddhist bonze. Only the Buddhist
fu.^tivit]es formed occaslDnal conmiuniUes; Only the heterodox
sects, often pursuing political ends and hence pulilioilJy persc-
caitcd, fomu^ enduring eomniunities- Anything corresponding to
our cure of souls was absent. Moreover, there was not a trace of
""diuTch discipline,** %vhicii meant in turn that the means for a
religinus control of life were lacking. Instead, as in ihe Mythras
mysteries, there were stages and degri^tis of sanctiEcaUon ami of
hieftKzralie rank.

From the sociological viewpoint these begitmings of redcuiptory
religiositj' were rather pitSful. Nevertheless from the viewpoint of
moral history thi^ had eonsidcrable ramifications. Despite the
persceutioiLs to which It was exposed. Buddhism imported about
all that Chinese folk Hfe knew of the religious sermon and individ¬
ual search for saWOon, belief in enmpeiisation and it beyond,
religious ethic liud inward devotiou* The same bolds for Japan- Id
order to be called a “folk religion^ at all this momebal sotcriology
of Indian intellectuals had to undergo the most profound internal
transition imaginable. Hence, we shall first have to consider
Buddhism on its native ground* Only then can it be billy under¬
stood why no bridges could connect Its monachal contemplation
wth rational routine conduct. And only then can we comprehend
why the role conceded to Buddhism in China deviated so widely
from the role which Christianity could assume In kte Antiquity,
despite the seeming analogy.

CHAPTER VIH

CONCLUSIONS:

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM

ll N THIS context we may best gain perspective on the foregoing
by clarifying the relationship between Confucian rationalism—
for the name is appropriate—and what is geographically and his¬
torically closest to us, namely, Protestant rationalism.

To judge the level of rationalization a religion represents we
may use two primary yardsticks which are in many ways inter¬
related. One is the degree to which the rehgion has ^vested itself
of magic; the other is the degree to which it has systematically
unified the relation between God and the world and therewith its
own ethical relationship to the world. In the former respect the
varying expressions of ascetic Protestantism represent a last phase.
The most characteristic forms of Protestantism have liquidated
magic most completely. In principle, magic was eradicated even
in the sublimated form of sacraments and symbols, so much so
that the strict Puritan had the corpses of his loved ones dug under
without any formahty in order to assure the complete ehmination
of superstition. That meant, in this context, cutting oflF all trust in
magical manipulations. Nowhere has the complete disenchant¬
ment of the world been carried through with greater consistency,
but that did not mean freedom from what we nowadays cus¬
tomarily regard as “superstition.” Witch trials also flourished in
New England. Still while Confucianism left untouched the sie-

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CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 227 «

nificance of magic for redemption, Puritanism came to consider
all magic as devilish. Only ethical rationalism was defined as
religiously valuable, i.e., conduct according to Gods command¬
ment and at that, proceeding from a God-fearing attitude. Finally,
from our presentation it should be perfectly clear that in the
magic garden of heterodox doctrine (Taoism) a rational economy
and technology of modem occidental character was simply out of
the question. For all natural scientific knowledge was lacking,
partly as a cause and partly as an effect of these elemental forces:
the power of chronomancers, geomancers, hydromancers, mete-
oromancers; and a cmde, abstruse, universist conception of the
unity of the world. Furthermore, Taoism was interested in the
income opportunities of prebendal oflBce, the bulwark of magical
tradition.

The preservation of this magic garden, however, was one of
the tendencies intimate to Gonfucian ethics. To this, inter¬
nal reasons were added which prevented any shattering of
Gonfucian power.

In strong contrast to the naive stand of Confucianism toward
things of tins world, Puritan ethics constmed them as a tremen¬
dous and grandiose tension toward the “world.” As we shall see
further in detail, every religion which opposes the world with
rational, ethical imperatives finds itself at some point in a
state of tension with the irrationalities of the world. These ten¬
sions with individual religions set in at very different points,
and the nature and intensity of the tension varies accordingly.
With the individual religions this depends largely on the path
of salvation as defined by metaphysical promises. We must note
that the degree of religious devaluation of the world is not iden¬
tical with Ae degree of its rejection in actual practice.

Confucianism, we have seen was (in intent) a rational ethic
which reduced tension with the world to an absolute minimum.
This was tme of its religious depreciation as well as its prac¬
tical rejection. The world was the best of all possible worlds;
human nature was disposed to the ethically good. Men, in this
as in all things, differed in degree but being of the same nature

^ 228 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

and capable of iinliiruted perfectioiij they were in principle
adequate for fulfilling the moral law. PhilosophicaHiteraiy edu¬
cation based upon the old classics was the universal means of
seh-perfection, and insufficient education along with its main
cause, insufficient economic provision, were the only sources of
shortcoming. Such faults, however, and especially the faults of
government, were the essseotial reason for all misfortunes since
they caused the unrest of the purely magically-conceived spirits.
The right path to salvation consisted in adjustment to the eternal
and supra-divine orders of the world, Tao, and hence to the re¬
quirements of social life, which followed from cosmic harmony.
Pious conformism with the fixed order of secular powers reigned
supreme. The corresponding individual ideal was the elaboration
of the self as a universal and harmoniously balanced personality,
in this sense a microcosm* For the Confucian ideal man, the
gentleman, “grace and dignity” were expressed in fulfilling tradi¬
tional obligations. Hence, the cardinal virtue and goal in self-
perfection meant ceremonial and ritualist propriety in aU cir¬
cumstances of life. The appropriate means to this goal were
watchful and rational self-control and the repression of whatever
irrational passions might cause poise to be shaken.

The Confucian desired **salvation” only from the barbaric lack
of education. As the reward of virtue he expected only long life,
health, and wealth in this world and beyond death the retention
of his good name. Like for truly Hellenic man all transcendental
anchorage of ethics, all tension between the imperatives of a
supra-mundane God and a creatural world, all orientation toward
a goal in the beyond, and all conception of radical evil were
absent. He who complied with the commandments, fashioned
for the man of average ability, was free of sin. In vain Christian
missionaries tried to awaken a feeling of sin where such presup¬
positions were taken for granted. Then, too, an educated Chinese
would simply refuse to be continually burdened with “sin ”
Incidentally, the concept of “sin” is usually felt as rather shock¬
ing and lacking in dignity by genteel intellectuals everywhere.
Usually it is replaced by conventional, or feudal, or aestheti-

CfJl^FTTClANiSM AKD PURITANISM * 229 *

cally foridiiliittifi variants sucb as *indecenf" ot "not in good
tester Ther^ w&re sins^ ct^rtaiEiIy^ bnlr in the field nf ethics
Uiese cniLsisted of offenses against traditional authorities, paretits,
ancestors^ and superiors in the hierarchy of officpK For the rest
they were magically precarious infringements of inherited cus¬
toms^ of the traditional ecrciiionlaL, atidt Hnally^ of the stable
soda! oouventiona. All these were of equal standing. "I have
sinned" corresponded to our "I beg your pardon” in violating a
conveDtEon. Ascetioisin and contemplatinn, mortificatioa and
escape from tlie world were not only uninown in Confucianism
but were desptsed as pamritisui. All forms of oongregatroDal and
redemptory religio^aty were either directly persecuted and eradi¬
cated, or were considered a private affair and littlu esteemed,
as were the Orphic priests by tlie noble Hellenic men of classic
time. This ethic of unoondidonol afBmiatlOn of and adjiishnent
to the world presupposed the nnhrokeii and cEinrinucd existence
of purely magical rdigion. It applied to the position of the em¬
peror who, by personal quEliCcstion, was responsible for the
good conduct of the spirits and the occurrence of rain and good
harvest weather; it applied to ancestor worship whidi was equally
fundameubal for official and popular reTjgiosityi and it applied to
unofficial (Taoist) magical therapy and the other survival forms
of anunist compulsion of spirits (i.u., authropo- aud herolatrfc
belief In functional deities).

Like ihc educated HcDene, tlie educated Confucian adheted
to magical conceptions with a mixture of skepticism while oc'ca-
SiOnally submitting to demoaology. But tlie mass of the Chinese,
whose way of life was influenced by Confudanism, lived iu
these cOQceptioua with unbrokca faith. With regard to the beyond
the Confucian might say with old Faust, “Pool who turns his
eyes blinking in that direction"; but like Faust he would have to
make the reservation, ""if only I could remove magic from my
path ... Also the high Chhiese officials, educated in the old
Chinese way, did not hesitate to be edified by tlie stupidest
miraclui Tenriou toward the ^world” had never arisen bemuse,
Rs far as known, there had never been on edtical prophecy of

» 230 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

a supramundane God who raised ethical demands. Nor was
there a substitute for this in the "spirits” who raised demands
and insisted upon faithful fulfillment of contract. For it was
always a matter of specific duty placed under the spirits* guard¬
ianship, oath, or whatever it happened to be; never did it involve
inner formation of the personality per se nor the person's conduct
of life. The leading intellectual stratum, ofiBcials and candidates
for office, had consistently supported the retention of ancestor
worship as absolutely necessary for the undisturbed preservation
of bureaucratic authority. They suppressed all upheavals arising
from rehgions of redemption. Besides Taoist divination and sacra¬
mental grace, the only reUgion of salvation permitted was that
of the Buddhist monks for, being pacifist, it was not dangerous.
In China, its practical effect was to enrich the scope of psychic
experience by certain nuances of moody inwardness as we shall
see. For the rest, it was a further source of magical-sacramental
grace and tradition-strengthening ceremony.

This means that such an ethic of intellectuals was necessarily
limited in its significance for the broad masses. First, local and,
above all, social differences in education were enormous. The
traditionalist and, until modem times, strongly subsistence-
oriented pattern of consumption among the poorer strata of the
people was maintained by an almost incredible virtuosity in
thrift (in consumption matters), which has nowhere been sur¬
passed and which precluded any intimate relation to the gentle¬
man ideals of Confucianism.

As usual, only the gestures and forms of external conduct
among the master stratum became the object of general diffusion.
In all probabihty the educated stratum has decisively influenced
the way of life of the masses. This influence seems to have been
consummated especially through negative effects: on the one
hand, completely blocking the emergence of any prophetic
religiosity, and on the other hand, eradicating almost all orgiastic
elements in the animist religion. It is possible that at least part
of the traits which some authors are occasionally wont to refer
to as the racial qualities of the Chinese are co-determined by

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 231 «

these factors. Nowadays, here as elsewhere, even experienced
and knowing men can say nothing definite about the extent to
which biological heredity is influential. For us, however, there
is an important observation which can easily be made and is
confirmed by eminent sinologists. In the traits relevant for us,
the further back one goes in history the more similar the
Chinese and Chinese culture appear to what is found in the Occi¬
dent. The old popular beliefs, the old anchorets, the oldest songs
of the Shih Ching, the old warrior kings, the antagonisms of the
philosophical schools, feudalism, the beginnings of capitalist de¬
velopments in the Period of the Warring States—all of which are
considered characteristic—are more closely related to occidental
phenomena than are the traits of Confucian China. Hence, one
has to reckon with the possibility that many of the Chinese traits
which are considered innate may be the products of purely his¬
torical and cultural influences.

Regarding such traits, the sociologist essentially depends upon
the hterature of missionaries. This certainly varies in value but
in the last analysis remains relatively the most authentic. Always
emphasized are such observations as these: the striking lack of
“nerves” in the specifically modem European meaning of the
word; the unlimited patience and controlled politeness; the
strong attachment to the habitual; the absolute insensitivity to
monotony; the capacity for uninterrupted work and the slowness
in reacting to unusual stimuli, especially in the intellectual sphere.
All this seems to constitute a coherent and plausible unit but
other seemingly sharp contrasts appear. There is an ex’traordinary
and unusual horror of all unknown and not immediately apparent
things which finds expression in ineradicable distrust. There is
the rejection or lack of intellectual curiosity about things not
close at hand and immediately useful. These traits stand in con¬
trast to an unlimited and good-natured credulity in any magical
swindle, no matter how fantastic it may be. In the same way the
strong lack of genuine sympathy and warmth, often even among
people who are personally close, stands in apparent contrast
to the great and close-knit cohesion of social organizations. The

» 232 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

absolute docility and ceremonial piety of the adult toward his
parents hardly seems compatible with the alleged lack of love
and respect for authority in small children. Likewise what is
repeatedly maintained as the incomparable dishonesty of the
Chinese, even toward their own defense attorneys, could scarcely
be reconciled with the obviously remarkable reliability of mer¬
chants in big business—compared to countries with a feudal past
such as Japan, for e.xample. Retail trade, to be sure, seems to
know little of such honesty; the “fixed” prices appear to be
fictitious even among native Chinese. The typical distrust of
the Chinese for one another is confirmed by all observers. It
stands in sharp contrast to the trust and honesty of the faithful
brethren in the Puritan sects, a trust shared by outsiders as weD.
Finally, the unity and unshakability of the general psycho¬
physical bearing constrasts sharply with the often reported in¬
stability of all those features of the Chinese way of life which
are not regulated from without by fixed norms. Most traits,
however, are so fixed. More sharply formulated, the bondage
of the Chinese, which is produced by their innumerable con¬
ventions, contrasts basically with the absence of an inward
core, of a unified way of life flowing from some central and auton¬
omous value position. How can all this be explained?

The absence of hysteria-producing, asceticist religious prac¬
tices and the rather thorough elimination of toxic cults could
not fail to influence the nervous and psychic constitution of a
human group. As regards the use of toxics the Chinese belong to
the relatively “sober” peoples. This has been since the pacification
as compared to the former carousing in the old long house and
at princely courts. Frenzy and orgiastic “obsession” were divested
of the charismatic value attaching to sacredness and were only
considered symptomatic of demonic rule. Confucianism rejected
the use of alcohol except for rudimentary use at sacrifices. That
the alcoholic orgy was not rare among the lower strata of the
people in China, as elsewhere, does not change the relative signif¬
icance of the difFerence. Opium, the toxic considered specifically
Chinese, has been imported only in modem times. As is well

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 233 «

known, it was imposed by war from without, despite the sharpest
resistance of the ruling strata. Its eflFects, moreover, he in the
direction of apathetic ecstasy, a straight continuation of the
line of "*wu wei^ and not in the direction of heroic frenzy or
the unchaining of active passions. The Hellenic sophrosyne did
not prevent Plato in “Phaidros” from considering beautiful ecstasy
as the source of everything great. In this the rationahst Roman
nobihty of oflBce—who translated ‘‘ekstasis* as “superstitio’* —
and the educated stratum of China were of different mind. The
“naivete,” as well as what is felt to be indolence, is perhaps
partly connected with this complete lack of Dionysion element
in Chinese rehgion, a lack which resulted from the dehberate
sobering of the cult by the bureaucracy. In the bureaucracy
nothing existed and nothing was allowed that might bring the
psyche out of its equilibrium. Every inordinate passion, especially
wrath, cKiy produced evil charms; thus, on feeling any pain,
the first question to ask was to what cKi it might be ascribed.
Animistic magic, as the only remaining form of popular religion,
determined the traditionalist fear of any innovation which might
bring evil charms or stir up the spirits. To be sure, this magic
was despised by the educated Chinese; but it was the form of
religion supported because of the character of the official cults.
The preservation of this animistic magic explains the great cre¬
dulity of the Chinese. Thus, magical also is the belief that disease
and misfortune are symptoms of divine wrath which the individ¬
ual has brought upon himself. In turn this belief facihtated a
certain inhibition of those sympathetic emotions which, in the
face of suffering, usually originate from the we-feeling of salva¬
tion rehgions. These emotions have always strongly governed
popular ethics in India.

From the retention of magic in China there also resulted the
specifically cool temper of Chinese humanity and formal kindli¬
ness toward one^s fellow man. Even in intra-familial relationships
there was a ceremonious punctiho and a selfish fear of the
spirits.

Immeasurable ceremonial fetters surround the life of the Chi-

• 234 c the nELicio}f of chisa

nese, from the stage of the embry o to the cult of the dead* In
their unexampled elaborateness and inviolabilltv of detail they
uouatitiite a treasure house for folklorist reseat W. Cnibes
works have espccislly exploited this material. Part of this cere¬
monial is evidently magical, especially apotropalc in origin. Part
is to be attributed to Taoism and popular Buddhism, to be dis¬
cussed elsewhere. Bolii Tauism and popular Buddliism have left
piofounil traces in the workaday life of the masses. But there re¬
mains a very considerable residue of the purely conventional and
ceremonial. Ccrcmouial prescription regulated questions and an¬
swers. indispensable offers as well us the exact manner of grateful
decline, also visits, presents, expressions of respect, condolence,
and joyful sympathy. This surpassed anything preserved from
ancient peasant traditioii, such as is found iu Spain where that
tradition was influenced by feudalism and probably also by
Islam)sin. In the £cld of gesture and of “face" one may assume
Confucian origins to be predominant oven where the origin can-
not he traced*

While the Confucian ideal of propriety did not always exert
its iiiHuence in the form of prevailing customs It n^’ealed itself
in the “spirit” in which tliey were practiced. The aesthetically
cool temper caused all duties bequeathed from feudal times,
espedaUy duties of charity, to be frozen Into a symbolic oero^
monial. On the other liand, the belief in spirits bound the
sib members more closely together. Undnubtedly, as in Egypt,
the much bewailed dishonesty was partly a direct product iif
that patrimonial ffscahsm which everywhere proved a tniining
ground for dLshimcsty. For both in Egypt and China the process
of tax collection involved tidds, flogging, assistance of sib mem¬
bers. bowlings of Ihe oppressed, fear of the oppressurs. and
compromise. To this must certainly be added the esdurive cult
of ccremoni;)! and conventfonal propriety in Confucianism. Still
there were loddng the feudal insHnets which branded all trade
with the adag^ "C>ui trpmpe t’onP^ Among the monopolistically
secure and CTiIluied status group of wealthy oversea traders of
the Ko Hatig guild, a mudi vaunted business integrity could

CONFUCIANISM AND PUKITANlSM » 235 *

develop out of the exigencies of their iivterest-sltucitioii. This
honesty^ if it existed, seems to have been a fachir of acoulturatioa
rather than an internal development like the Puiitcm ethlo. Tbis^
however, applies to all ethical traits of fie Chinese,

A tme [iropbacy creates and systi^Tnaticaliy orients conduct
toward one internal measure of value. In the face of this the
“world'^ ift vievvtid as material hj be fashioned ethically accord¬
ing to the nonu. Confucianism in contrast meant adjustment to
the outside^ to the conditions of the "world." A well-adjustcxl
maiij rationalizing his cxmdnct only to the degree requi^dte for
adjustment, does not constitute a ^^stema^e unity but rather
a ciimplex of useful and particular traits. In Chinese popuLir
rehgion the animistic ideas which perpetuate the belief in plural
souls of the individual could almost stand as a symlioi of this
fact Not reaching beyond this world;, the individual necessarily
lacked an autonoTnous coimicrwEiighL m conlroutmg this world.
Confuelauism facilitated the taming of the ma.sses a,s well as
the dignified bearing of tlie gcuLlcmari, but the st}lc of life thus
achieved must necessarily be characterized by essentiuHy nega¬
tive traiba. Such a way of life could not allow man an inward
aspiration toward a “unified personality," a striving which we
associate with tim idea of |>ersonality. Life remained a series
of occurreoees. It did not become a whole placed mctliodically
under a tjansceridcntal goal.

The contrast between this socitJ-edilcal posiLioD aud the whole
religiouii ethic of tlic Occident was unbridge^able. Outwardly
stjme patrfarchleal aspects of the Tliiimbit and the Lutheran
ethic might ap[jc 2 ar to resemble Confudanism, but this is merely
an ejrtemcil Irnpression. The Confucian system of radical world-
Optimism succeeded in removing the basic pessimistic tension
between the wnrid and the supru-uiuudaue destination of the in-
dIviduaL But no Cbrfstlan ethic, hipwcver cutaugled in iiiundaue
COmpromkes^ ctinld attaiu this.

Completely absent in Confucian eLEiic was any tension between
nature and deity, between ethical demand and human short¬
coming, eortsdousness of sin and need for salvation, conduct on

» 236 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

earth and compensation in the beyond, rehgious duty and socio-
pohtical reahty. Hence, there was no leverage for influencing
conduct through inner forces freed of tradition and convention.
Fanuly piety, resting on the behef in spirits, was by far the
strongest influence on man’s conduct. Ultimately famil y piety
facihtated and controlled, as we have seen, the strong cohesion
of the sib associations. This was likewise true of the above-
mentioned cooperative associations which may be considered
as enlarged family enterprises with specialization of labor. This
firm cohesion was in its way rehgiously motivated and the strength
of the truly Chinese economic organization was roughly co¬
extensive with these personal associations controlled by piety.
Chinese ethic developed its strongest motives in the circle of
naturally grown, personalist associations or associations affihated
with or modeled after them. This contrasts sharply with the
Puntan ethic which amounts to an objectification of man’s duties
as a creature of God. The rehgious duty toward the hidden and
supra-mimdane God caused the Puritan to appraise all human
relations-including those naturally nearest in life-as mere means
and expression of a mentahty reaching beyond the organic rela¬
tions of life. The rehgious duty of the pious Chinese, in contrast,
enjoined him to develop himself within the organicahy given'
personal relations. Mencius rejected the universal “love of man”
with the comment that it would extinguish piety and justice and
that it is the way of animals to have neither father nor brother.
In substance, the duties of a Chinese Confucian always consisted
of piety toward concrete people whether hving or dead, and
toward those who were close to him through their position in
life. The Confucian owed nothing to a supra-mundane God;
therefore, he was never bound to a sacred “cause” or an “idea ”
For Tao was neither; it was simply the embodiment of the bind-
h>g> traditional ritual, and its command was not “action” but
“emptiness.” For the economic mentahty, the personalist principle
was undoubtedly as great a barrier to impersonal rationaliL-
tion as it was generally to impersonal matter of factness. It
tended to tie the individual ever anew to his sib members and

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 237 €

to bind him to the manner of the sib, in any case to “persons” in¬
stead of functional tasks (“enterprises”). This barrier was inti¬
mately connected with the natiure of Chinese religion, as our
whole presentation has shown. For it was an obstacle to rational¬
izing the religious ethic, an obstacle which the ruling and edu¬
cated stratum maintained in the interest of their position. It is
of considerable economic consequence whether or not confidence,
which is basic to business, rests upon purely personal, familial,
or semi-familial relationships as was largely the case in China.

The great achievement of ethical religions, above all of the
ethical and asceticist sects of Protestantism, was to shatter the
fetters of the sib. These religions established the superior com¬
munity of faith and a common ethical way of life in opposition
to the community of blood, even to a large extent in opposition to
the family. From the economic viewpoint it meant basing busi¬
ness confidence upon the ethical quahties of the individual proven
in his impersonal, vocational work. The economic ramifications
of universal and mutual distrust must probably be rated high,
though we have no yardstick for this. Thus, universal distrust
resulted from the oflScial and exclusive sway of conventional dis¬
honesty and from the Confucian emphasis on keeping face.

Confocianism and Confucian mentahty, deifying “wealth,”
could facilitate political-economic measures of a sort comparable
to the worldliness of the Renaissance in the Occident. At this
point, however, one can observe the limited significance of eco¬
nomic policy as compared to economic mentality. In no other
civilized country has material welfare ever been so exalted as
the supreme good.^ The pohtico-economic views of Confucianism
were comparable to those of our Cameralists. The oldest docu¬
ment of Chinese pohtical economy^ is a tract by the Confucian
Ssu-ma Ch’ien on the “balance of trade” in which the usefulness
of wealth, including commercial profit, is emphasized. Economic
policy alternated between fiscal and laissez-faire measures; in
any case it was not deliberately anti-chrematistic. The merchants
of the occidental Middle Ages were and are “despised” by Ger¬
man literati just as in China. Still economic policy did not create

238 ^

THE BELiqjOX OF CHlKA

the ccoQDmic mcatality af capitalhiuj. The EEiouey poafiLs uf the
traders in the Period of the Warriiig States were political profits
of COnnnissiOnars to Lhe sl^tu. Ttie grtrait mininjij coroS^ were
osed to search gold. Still no intermediate link led from CoofuciaD-
ism and its ethic— as fixinly ii>oted as ChristEanit^'—to a civic and
TnethEadicai way of life. This was aJl'-important Puritanism did
Create it, and unintcDtioiially at that Thi^ strange reverston of
the "natural,'’ which is strange only on Drst, superhclul glunoe,
instructs us in the paradox of unintended conscqEiencex; i.e.^ the
rctaUon of man and fate, of what he intended by his acts and
what actually came of them.

Piiritanisin represents the polar opposite typa of mtional dealing
with the world, a somewhat ambiguoux concept as we have shown
elsewhere, The ^"eede^a puraj^ in practice and in true meaning,
represented the Christian communion at the lord's Supper in
honor of God and purged of all morally rejected participants.
This hniicjr might have a Calvinist or Baptist foundation, its
church constitution might be more Hynodical nr more congrega-
tionalist. Broadly understuod, Pm-itanism may refer to the momlly
rigoristic and Christian asccticist lay cnnimmiities in genm-nl. This
rndudex the Baptist. Mennonite, Quaker^ ascetic Pietist^ luid
Methodist communities which liad spiritual mystical tjeginnings.

As against the Con hid an type, It was pccuL'ar to these types
that they should oppose the flight from the world in order to ra-
tiooaUze it, despite or iudecd because of their asceticist ie|ection
of the worlil. Men are equally wicked and fail ethically; the world
is a vessel of sin; and there can be no differences in creatural
wickedness in tlie face of the Lord. Adjustment to %'anity fair
would be a sign of rejection; self-perfection in the sense of Con¬
fucianism would be Idolatroux blasphemy. WealQi and surrender
to its enjoyment would be the specific! temptation, reliance on
philosophy and literacy education would he ^nful and ereatural
pride; all trust in magical coercion of spirits and deities would
be not only dtispicable suporstitinn but impudent blasphemy. All
things reminiscent of ma^c, all vestigial ritualism and priestly
powers were eradicated. The Qiiatcrs, in theory, djd not even

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 239 «

have an appointed preacher; the majority of the Protestant sects
had no paid professional preacher. In the small and hght meeting
halls of the Quakers the last traces of religious emblems are gone.
Men were held to be equally sinful by nature even though their
rehgious opportunities were not equal but highly unequal, tem¬
porarily and for all time. Either this was the result of arbitrary
predestination as with the Calvinists, the particularist Baptists,
the Whitefield Methodists, and the reformed Pietists; or it was
the result of differing disposition for spiritual endowment. Finally,
inequality of religious opportunity was due to the varying in¬
tensity and success of the endeavor to attain “conversion” (de¬
cisive with the old Pietists), “penitance,” “winning through,” or
whatever the nature of rebirth might be. However, besides the
unreasoning, unmerited, “free” grace of a supra-mundane God,
Providence was always instrumental in these differences. Thus
the behef in predestination was but one, though by far the most
consistent, dogmatic form of this religion of virtuosi.

Only a few of the massa perditionis were called to attain the
holy whether they alone were destined for it by virtue of a pre¬
destination of yore, or whether all—according to the Quakers
this included non-Christians—had received the offer but only
a small company, capable of seizing it, could reach the goal.
According to some Pietist doctrines, salvation was offered only
once in a lifetime; according to others, the so-called Terminists,
it was offered once and for all. Men always had to prove him¬
self capable of grasping the holy. Hence, everythmg was directed
toward God^s free grace and the destiny in the beyond; life in
the here and now was either a vale of tears or a mere transition.
Therefore, a tremendous emphasis was placed upon this tiny
span of time and upon what happened during it. This was per¬
haps encompassed by Carlyle’s words: “Millennia had to pass
ere thou earnest to life and millennia wait in silence for what
thou shalt do with this thy life.” It was not that it was possible
to attain eternal grace by one’s own achievement. The latter
was impossible. The individual could receive and above all recog¬
nize his call to salvation only through consciousness of a central

» 240

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

and unitary relation of this short hfe toward the supra-mundane
God and His will in “sanctification.” Sanctification in turn could
prove itself only through God-ordained activities, and as in all
active asceticism, through an ethical conduct blessed by God.
Thus, the individual could gain certainty of salvation only in
being God’s tool. The strongest premium imaginable was thereby
placed upon a rational and moral way of life. Only life conduct
abided by firm principles and controlled at a unitary center
could be considered a God-pleasing way of life. Though naive
surrender to the world unconditionally led away from salvation,
nevertheless the creatm-al world and creatiu-al man were God’s
creation and to them He addressed certain demands. According
to Calvinist conception God had created the world “in His
honor.” Therefore, however creaturally wicked men might be.
He wished to see His honor realized by subduing sin, possibly
also sufferance and wished to subject them to ethical discipline
through rational order. To “work the works of him that sent me,
while it is day” here became a duty and the works posited were
not ritual but rational-ethical in nature.

The contrast to Confucianism is clear: both ethics had their
irrational anchorages, the one in magic, the other in the ultimately
inscrutable resolves of a supra-mundane God. But from magic
there followed the inviolability of tradition as the proven magical
means and ultimately all bequeathed forms of life-conduct were
unchangeable if the wrath of the spirits were to be avoided. From
the relation between the supra-mimdane God and the creaturally
wicked, ethically irrational world there resulted, however, the
absolute unholiness of tradition and the truly endless task of
ethically and rationally subduing and mastering the given world,
i.e., rational, objective “progress.” Here, the task of the rational
transformation of the world stood opposed to the Confucian ad¬
justment to the world. Confucianism demanded constant and
vigilant self-control in order to maintain the dignity of the uni¬
versally accomplished man of the world; Puritan ethics demanded
this self-control in order methodically to concentrate man’s atti¬
tudes on God’s will. The Confucian ethic intentionally left people

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM

» 241 €

in their personal relations as naturally grown or given by rela¬
tions of social super- and subordination. Confucianism hallowed
alone those human obligations of piety created by inter-human
relations, such as prince and servant, higher and lower oifficial,
father and son, brother and brother, teacher and pupil, friend
and friend. Puritan ethic, however, rather suspected these purely
personal relationships as pertaining to the creatural; but Puritan¬
ism, of course, did allow for their existence and ethically con¬
trolled them so far as they were not against God. The relation to
God had precedence in all circumstances. Overly intensive idol¬
atrous relations of men per se were by all means to be avoided.
Trust in men, and precisely in those closest to one by nature,
would endanger the soul. Thus, the Calvinist Duchess Renate
dTIste might curse her next of kin if she knew them rejected by
God through arbitrary predestination. From this, very important
practical differences of the two ethical conceptions resulted even
though we shall designate both of them as rationalist in their
practical turn of mind and although both of them reached
“utilitarian” conclusions. These differences did not alone result
from the autonomy of the laws of pohtical structures. In part
the cohesion of the sibs was an essential result of forms of
pohtical and economic organization which were themselves tied
to personal relations. To a striking degree they lacked rational
matter-of-factness, impersonal rationalism, and the nature of an
abstract, impersonal, purposive association. True “communities”
were absent, especially in the cities, because there were no
economic and managerial forms of association or enterprise
which were piurely purposive. Almost none of these originated^
from purely Ghinese roots. All communal action there remained
engulfed and conditioned by purely personal, above all, by
kinship relations. This apphed also to occupational associations.
Whereas Puritanism objectified everything and transformed it
into rational enterprise, dissolved everything into the pure busi¬
ness relation, and substituted rational law and agreement for
tradition, in Ghina, the pervasive factors were tradition, local
custom, and the concrete personal favor of the official Another

» 242 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

factor seems still more important. In conjunction with the tre¬
mendous density of population in China, a calculating mentality
and self-suflBcient frugality of unexampled intensity developed
under the influence of worldly-minded utilitarianism and belief
in the value of wealth as a universal means of moral perfection.
The Chinese shopkeeper haggled for and reckoned with every
penny, and he daily counted over his cash receipts. Reliable
travelers reported that the conversation of the native Chinese
was about money and money affairs, apparently to an extent
seldom found elsewhere. But it is very striking that out of this
unceasing and intensive economic ado and the much bewailed
crass “materialism” of the Chinese, there failed to originate on
the economic plane those great and methodical business con¬
ceptions which are rational in nature and are presupposed by
modem capitalism. Such conceptions have remained alien to
China, except, for instance, in Canton where past or present
foreign influence and the incessant advance of occidental capi¬
talism have taught them to the Chinese.

In the past, especially in times of political division, political
capitalism arose independently in the form of usury connected
with ofiBce, emergency loans, wholesale trade and industrial
ergasteria. This Chinese political capitalism was comparable to
the capitalism of late Antiquity, Egypt, and Islam. Recently
there has also been the usual dependency upon the merchant and
buyer. In general, however, the Chinese lacked the strict organiza¬
tion of the sistema domestico, such as existed even during the
late Middle Ages in the Occident. But in spite of the rather
intensive internal and, for a time at least, considerable foreign
trade, there existed no bourgeois capitalism of the modem or
even late Medieval type. There were no rational forms of late
Medieval and scientific European capitalist enterprise in industry,
and no formation of capital in the Emopean manner. Chinese
capital, which took part in exploiting modem opportunities, was
predominantly the capital of mandarins; hence, it was capital
accumulated through extortionist practices in oflBce. There was
no rational method of organized enterprise in the European

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 243 «

fashion, no truly rational organization of commercial news serv¬
ices, no rational money system—the development of the money
economy did not even equal that of Ptolemean Egypt. There
were only beginnings of legal institutions and these compare
with our law of firms, of commercial companies, of checks, bonds,
shares. (These beginnings were characterized essentially by their
technical imperfection.) The numerous technical inventions were
little used for economic purposes.^ Finally, there was no genuine,
technically valuable system of commercial correspondence, ac¬
counting, or bookkeeping.

Thus, we meet with conditions very similar to those of Mediter¬
ranean Antiquity, though in consequence of the pacification of
the empire slavery was insignificant. In some respects, however,
these conditions were even more remote from the “spirit" of
modem capitalism and its institutions than those of Antiquity.
In spite of all the heresy trials, there was extensive religious
tolerance, at least compared to the intolerance of Calvinist Puri¬
tanism. Peace existed and there was a far reaching freedom of
commodity trade, freedom of mobility, freedom of occupational
choice and methods of production. There was no tabooing what¬
soever of the shopkeeper spirit. All of this has not favored the
rise of modem capitalism in China. In this typical land of profit¬
eering, one may well see that by themselves neither “acquisitive¬
ness," nor high and even exclusive esteem for wealth, nor utili¬
tarian “rationahsm" have any connection as yet with modem
capitalism. The Chinese petty and middle class business man,
as well as the big business man who adhered to the old tradition,
ascribed success and failure, like the Puritan, to divine powers.
The Chinese, however, ascribed them to the Taoistic god of
wealth. For him success and failure in business were not sympto¬
matic of a state of grace but of magically and ceremonially signifi¬
cant merit or offense, and compensation was sought in terms of
ritually “good" works. The Chinese lacked the central, religiously
determined, and rational method of life which came from within
and which was characteristic of the classical Puritan. For the
latter, economic success was not an ultimate goal or end in itself

» 244 ^

THE KELIGION OF CHINA

but a means of proving one’s self. The Chinese did not delib¬
erately cut^ himself ofiF from the impressions and influences of
the world”—a world which the Puritan sought to control, just
as he did himself, by means of a definite and one-sided rational
effort of vwll. The Puritan was taught to suppress the petty ac¬
quisitiveness which destroys all rational, methodical enterprise
-an acquisitiveness which distinguishes the conduct of the
Chinese shopkeeper. Ahen to the Confucian was the peculiar
confinement and repression of natural impulse® which was
brought about by strictly volitional and ethical rationalization
and ingrained in the Puritan.

For the Confucian the pruning of freely expressed and original
impulse was of a different nature. The watchful self-control of
the Confucian was to maintain the dignity of external gesture
and manner, to keep “face.” This self-control was of an aesthetic
and essentiaUy negative nature. Dignified deportment, in itself
devoid of definite content, was esteemed and desired. The equally
vigilant self-control of the Puritan had as its positive ^ a
definitely qualified conduct and, beyond this, it had as an inward
aim the systematic control of one’s own nature which was re¬
garded as wicked and sinful. The consistent Pietist would take
inventory, a sort of bookkeeping practiced daily even by such
an Epigonus as Benjamin Franklin, for the supra-mundane, omnis¬
cient God saw the central internal attitude. However, the world
to which the Confucian adjusted merely observed the graceful
gesture. The Confucian gentleman, striving simply for dignified
bearing, distrusted others as generally as he believed othere dis¬
trusted him. This distrust handicapped all credit and business
operations and contrasted with the Puritan’s trust, especially
his economic trust in the absolutely unshakable and relirfously
determined righteousness of his brother in faith. Faced with the
creatural vidckedness of the world and of man, especially of
those in high places, this confidence just sufiBced to prevent his
profoundly realistic and thoroughly unrespecting pessimism from
becoming a blockage to the credit indispensable for capitalist
commerce. It merely caused him to assess soberly the objective

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 245 €

external and internal ability of the partner, to take stock of the
constancy of motives indispensable for business according to
the adage “honesty is the best policy.**

The Confucian's word was a beautiful and pohte gesture as
an end in itself; the Puritan’s word was an impersonal and busi¬
nesslike communication, short and absolutely rehable: “Yea, yea;
Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

The thriftiness of the Confucian was narrowly circumscribed
by the status proprieties of the gentleman. The excessive thrift
found in the mystically determined humihty of Lao-tzu and
some other Taoists was fought by the Confucian school. Thrift,
for the Chinese petty bourgeois classes, meant hoarding. This
was fundamentally comparable to the peasant’s way of hoarding
wealth in his stocl^g. It served to safeguard burial rites and good
name, honor and enjoyment of possession per se, as is usual
where asceticism has not yet broken the enjoyment of wealth.

For the Puritan, however, possessions were as great a tempta¬
tion as they were for the monk. Like the income of monasteries,
his income was a secondary result and symptom of successful
asceticism. John Wesley said: “We have no choice but to recom¬
mend that men be pious, and that means,” as an unavoidable
effect, “getting rich.” But obviously the dangerous nature of riches
for the pious individual was the same as it had been for the
monasteries. Wesley expressly focused upon the observed and
apparent paradox between the rejection of the world and acquisi¬
tive virtuosity.

For the Confucian, as a statement handed down by the Master
expressly teaches, wealth was the most important means for a
virtuous, i.e., dignified life and for the ability to dedicate oneself
to self-perfection. Hence inquiry as to means of improving
men was answered by, “enrich them,” for only a rich man
could live according to rank and station. However, for the
Puritan, income was an unintended result, an important symptom
of virtue. The expenditure of wealth for purposes of personal
consumption easily constituted idolatrous surrender to the world.
Confucius might not disdain the acquisition of riches but wealth

» 246 « THE RELIGION OF CHINA

seemed insecure and could upset the equilibrium of the genteel
soul. Thus, all truly economic and vocational work was the Philis¬
tine activity of expert professionals. For the Confucian, the spe-
cialistic expert could not be raised to truly positive dignity, no
matter what his social usefulness. The decisive factor was that
the “cultured man” (gentleman) was “not a tool”; that is, in
his adjustment to the world and in his self-perfection he was
an end unto himself, not a means for any functional end. This
core of Confucian ethics rejected professional specialization,
modem expert bureaucracy, and special training; above all, it
rejected training in economics for the pursuit of profit.

To this “idolatrous” maxim Puritanism contrasts the task of
proving oneself in vocational life and in the special functions of
the world. The Confucian was the man of literary education,
more precisely the man of bookish education, a man of scrip¬
ture in the highest form. Confucianism was as foreign to the
Hellenic valuation and development of speech and conversation
as it was to the energy of rational action in military or economic
aflFairs. Though they did so with differential intensity most Puri¬
tan denominations opposed philosophic hterary education since
it conflicted with an indispensable grounding in the Bible. The
Bible was cherished as a sort of book of statutes and a mana¬
gerial doctrine. Thus, philosophical literary education, the highest
ornament of the Confucian, was, for the Puritan, an idle waste
of time and a danger to religion. Scholasticism and dialectics,
Aristotle and his derivatives, were a horror and a menace to the
Puritan; thus Spener, for instance, preferred mathematically-
founded Cartesian rational philosophy. Useful and naturalist
knowledge, especially empirical knowledge of natural sciences,
geographical orientation as well as the sober clarity of a realist
mind and specialized expert knowledge were first cultivated as
planned educational ends by Puritans—in Germany particularly
by Pietist circles.

Such knowledge was the only avenue to knowledge of God's
glory and the providence embodied in His creation. On the other
hand, such knowledge served as a means of rationally mastering

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 247 €

the world in one's vocation and it enabled one to do one’s duty
in honor of God. Hellenism and, essentially also, the Renaissance
at its height were equally distant from both Confucianism and
Puritanism. The indispensable ethical qualities of the modem cap¬
italist entrepreneur were: radical concentration on God-ordained
purposes; the relentless and practical rationahsm of the asceticist
ethic; a methodical conception of matter-of-factness in business
management; a horror of illegal, political, colonial, booty, and
monopoly types of capitalism which depended on the favor of
princes and men as against the sober, strict legahty and the har¬
nessed rational energy of routine enterprise; the rational calcula¬
tion of the technically best way, of practical sohdity and ex¬
pediency instead of the traditionalist enjoyment of transmitted
skill or the beauty of product characteristic of the old artisan
craftsman. This must be added to the pious worker’s special
will for work. The relentlessly and religiously systematized utili¬
tarianism peculiar to rational asceticism, to live “in” the world
and yet not be “of* it, has helped to produce superior rational
aptitudes and therewith the spirit of the vocational man which,
in the last analysis, was denied to Confucianism. That is to say,
the Confucian way of life was rational but was determined,
unhke Puritanism, from without rather than from within. The
contrast can teach us that mere sobriety and thriftiness combined
with acquisitiveness and regard for wealth were far from repre¬
senting and far from releasing the “capitalist spirit,” in the
sense that this is found in the vocational man of the modem
economy.

The typical Confucian used his own and his family’s savings
in order to acquire a literary education and to have himself
trained for the examinations. Thus he gained the basis for a cul¬
tured status position. The typical Puritan earned plenty, spent
httle, and reinvested his income as capital in rational capitalist
enterprise out of an asceticist compulsion to save. “Rationahsm”
—and this is our second lesson—was embodied in the spirit of
both ethics. But only the Puritan rational ethic with its supra-
mundane orientation brought economic rationalism to its con-

» 248 4c

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

sistent conclusion. This happened merely because nothing was
further from the conscious Puritan intention. It happened because
inner-worldly work was simply expressive of the striving for a
transcendental goal. The world, as promised, fell to Puritanism
because the Puritans alone “had striven for God and his justice.”
In this is vested the basic difference between the two Idnds of
rationahsm. Confucian rationahsm meant rational adjustment to
the world; Puritan rationalism meant rational mastery of the
world. Both the Puritan and the Confucian were “sober men.”
But the rational sobriety of the Puritan was founded in a mighty
enthusiasm which the Confucian lacked completely; it was the
same enthusiasm which inspired the monk of the Occident. The
rejection of the world by occidental asceticism was insolubly
linked to its opposite, namely, its eagerness to dominate the
world. In the name of a supra-mundane God the imperatives of
asceticism were issued to the monk and, in variant and softened
form, to the world. Nothing conflicted more with the Confucian
ideal of gentility than the idea of a “vocation.” The “princely”
man was an aesthetic value; he was not a tool of a god. But the
true Christian, the other-worldly and inner-worldly asceticist,
wished to be nothing more than a tool of his God; in this he
sought his dignity. Since this is what he wished to be he was a
useful instrument for rationally transforming and mastering the
world.

The Chinese in all probability would be quite capable, prob¬
ably more capable than the Japanese, of assimilating capitalism
which has technically and economically been fully developed
in the modem culture area. It is obviously not a question of
deeming the Chinese “naturally ungifted” for the demands of
capitalism. But compared to the Occident, the varied conditions
which externally favored the origin of capitalism in China did
not suffice to create it. Likewise capitalism did not originate
in occidental or oriental Antiquity, or in India, or where Islamism
held sway. Yet in each of tiiese areas different and favorable
circumstances seemed to facilitate its rise. Many of the cir¬
cumstances which could or had to hinder capitalism in China

CONFUCIANISM AND PURITANISM » 249 €

similarly existed in the Ocx^ident and assumed definite shape in
the period of modem capitalism. Thus, there were the patrimonial
traits of occidental rulers, their bureaucracy, and the fact that
the money economy was unsettled and undeveloped. The money
economy of Ptolemaic Egypt was carried through much more
thoroughly than it was in fifteenth or sixteenth century Europe.
Circumstances which are usually considered to have been ob¬
stacles to capitalist development in the Occident had not existed
for thousands of years in China. Such circumstances as the fetters
of feudalism, landlordism and, in part also, the guild system were
lacking there. Besides, a considerable part of the various trade-
restricting monopolies which were characteristic of the Occident
did not apparently exist in China. Also, in the past, China knew
time and again the political conditions arising out of preparation
for war and warfare between competing states. In ancient Baby¬
lon and in Antiquity, there were conditions conducive to the rise
of political capitalism which the modem period also shares with
the past. It might be thought that modem capitalism, interested
in free trading opportunity, could have gained groimd once the
accumulation of wealth and profit from political sources became
impossible. This is perhaps comparable to the way in which,
in recent times. North America has offered the freest space for
the development of high capitalism in the almost complete ab¬
sence of organu^tion for war.

Political capitahsm was common to occidental Antiquity until
the time of the Roman emperors, to the Middle Ages, and to the
Orient. The pacification of the Empire explains, at least indirectly,
the non-existence of pohtical capitalism but it does not explain
the non-existence of modem capitahsm in China. To be sure
the basic characteristics of the “mentahty,” in this case the prac¬
tical attitudes toward the world, were deeply co-determined by
political and economic destinies. Yet, in view of their autonomous
laws, one can hardly fail to ascribe to these attitudes effects
strongly counteractive to capitahst development.

NOTES

L City, Prince and God

1. The great central works of classical Chinese literature will not be
cited separately when reference is made to a passage. They have been
translated and edited with textual criticism by J. Legge in the series
Chinese Classics. Some of them have been incorporated in Max Muel¬
ler s Sacred Books of the East.

The most convenient introduction to the personal or (what here
amounts to the same thing) presiunably personal views of Confucius
and his authoritative disciples may well be the three writings which
Legge has edited with an introduction, the small volume entided The
Life and Teachings of Confucius (London, 1867). They comprise the
Lun Yii (translated as Confucian Analects) y the Ta Hsiieh (The Great
Learning), and the Chung Yung (Doctrine of the Mean). In addition
there are the famous annals of Lu (CKun CKiu: ^Spring and Autumn
Annals**). For translations of Mencius* writings see Sacred Books of the
East and Faber, The Mind of Mencius. The Too Teh Ching has ap¬
peared in many translations. The German translation by v. Strauss
(1870) is masterly and an English translation by Cams appeared in
1913. Meanwhile, von Wilhelm has edited a good selection of Chinese
mystics and philosophers (Diederichs, Jena). Of late, a preoccupation
with Taoism has become almost fashionable. The older popularizing
work of Williams, The Midden Empire, is still a useful introductory
treatise on political and social conditions. Then there is von Richthofen’s
grandiose and predominantly geographical work which on the side
takes these conditions into consideration. Otto Franke gives an excel¬
lent sketch in Die Kultur der Gegenwart (II, II, 1) along with bibliog¬
raphy. [Franke’s unfinished magnum opus Geschichte des Chinesischen
Reiches, Eine DarsteUung seiner Entstehung, seines Wesens and seiner
Entwicldung bis zur Neuesten Zeit 3 vols. appeared at Berlin-Leipzig
in 1930, 1936, 1937. The first two volumes include the rise of the Han
empire and the establishment of the Confucian state; the third volume
(pp. 576) contains annotations, supplements and corrections to vols. I
and II, as well as indices of subject matter and names. Ed.]

For literature on the Chinese city see H. Plath, “Ueber die Ver-
fassung und Verwaltung Chinas unter den drei ersten Dynastien,”
Abhandlungen der Koeniglichen Bayrischen Akademie der Wissen-

. 250 •

NOTES

» 251 «

schaften, 1865, I. Cl. X, Abt. 2, p. 453 ff. The best work thus far on
the economic life of a (modem) Chinese city is that of a disciple of
Karl Buecher, Dr. Nyok Ching Tsur, “Die gewerbhchen Betriebsformen
der Stadt Ningpo,” Zeitschrift fuer die Gesamte Staatswissenscliaft,
Supplement 30 (Tuebingen, 1909).

For ancient Cliinese religion (so-called “Sinism”) see E. Chavannes,
Revue de VHistoire des Religions, vol. 34, p. 125 flF. For the religion
and ethic of Confucianism and Taoism, commendable are Dvorak s two
treatises in Darstellungen aus dem Gebiet der nichtchristlicJien Reli-
gionsgeschichte. For the rest, see Wilhelm Grube, “Die Rehgion der
alten Chinesen” Religionsgeschichtliches Lesebuch, A. Bertholet ed.,
(Tubingen, 1908) pp. 1-69 and Buckeley on China in Lehrbuch der
Religionsgeschichte, Chantepie de La Saussaye ed., 3rd ed. (Tuebingen,
1904). At present [in 1920 Ed.] de Groot’s great work on the official
religion is outstanding.

Cf. his main work, The Religious System of China (dealing thus
far mainly with ritual, especially with the rites of death). De Groot
gives a comprehensive survey of the religious systems of China in
Kultur der Gegenwart. For the tolerance of Confucianism, see his
spirited polemical treatise “Sectarianism and Rehgious Persecution in
China,” Verh. der Kon. Ak. van Wetensch. te Amsterdam, Afd. letterk.
N. Reeks, IV, I, 2. For the history of rehgious affairs see his essay in
vol. VII of the Archiv fuer Religionswissenschaft (1904). See also the
review of Pelliot in the Bulletin de Vtlcole frangaise de VExtreme
Orient, vol. Ill (1903), p. 105. Concerning Taoism see Pelliot, loc. cit.
p. 317. Concerning the sacred edict of the founder of the Ming dynasty
(the precedent for the “sacred edict” of 1671) see Chavannes, Bulletin
de VEcole frangaise de VExtreme Orient vol. Ill (1903), p. 549 ff.

For a presentation of the Confucian doctrine from the viewpoint of
the modem reform party of K’ang Yu-wei see Chen Huan-chang, The
Economic Principles of Confucius and His School (Doctoral thesis,
Columbia University, New York, 1911).

The impact of the various rehgious systems on style of life is eluci¬
dated in Wilhelm Gmbe s beautiful essay “Zur Pekinger Volkskunde,”
Veroeffentlichungen aus dem Koeniglichen Museum fuer Voelkerkunde
(Berlin, vol. VII, 1901). Cf. also Gmbes “Rehgion und Kultur der
Chinesen, Ueber chinesische Philosophie,” Kultur und Gegenwart, I, 5.
Gmbe, Geschichte der chinesischen Literatur (Leipzig, 1902).

From the missionary hterature see Jos. Edkins, Religion in China
(3rd ed. 1884). It is rather valuable because it reproduces numerous
conversations. Douglas" Society in China contains some valuable mate¬
rial. For further hterature one has to pemse the great and well-known
English, French and German periodicals, as well as the Zeitschrift fuer

B 252 <

TUE RELIGION OF CHINA

Hschi^wiS^Gn^h^ft and tte Atchh? fuer Religion-^wissefi-

SC}KlfL

For a descriptive jjiLrodudiCMi oT tnodern Chlucsc coaditions
FrciliLTr voii RidilliufcjiY Togebuecher am Chitta ixud dike books by
Lauterer, LyuU^ Nuvarra und otliEJ^. Cunceming Taoism cf. the notes
to Chapter VU below^

For a modern history of aneCent China see A. Gonrady in WeU-
gjsschichia ad. by t'fingk-Harttung (BarUiip 1911) ^ voL ILL, pp. 459^
567. The new work ol de Crool* Die Crundta^e der

Rstigian and Ethik^ des Sisaiswejiitns und WiJ^xen^^u^ft Chinas
(Berlin^ 1918)^ came to my attenticin nnly when this book vtfas in press-
Among short introdnetory sketches we wish especially to refer to a
small broehiire by one o£ the best experts, Freiherr von Rosthom, Dtw
SGSaole Lefce/i def Chifiessn (1919)^ Ol tiic older shnilar literature we
should name J. Singer's U$b^ $Qs^ide VertmeHnisje in O^ojien (Jfl&ft).

More Insbmctt^'e than many a book h the study of the ooltecMnn of
knpcrifll decrees^ Originally uitciided for intemd admtnistrative tise>
these have Interested EiigUsJniien for deoades and have been trnuslnlj^
under the liUe of Fr?^ng Further iJteratiire and trairslnted

soiuccsi are rated below.

Only a smidl portion of tiie documentary sources and inscriptious
have been trauskted and that h a great handicap for the uOn-sinolog^.
Unforhinatftly. T did not have an eKpert sinologhit to cooperate on the
text or check it For that reason the voluioe is published with mis-
givings and i^ith the greatest reserv^atiotu

2. This is also the oouclusion of H. B. Morse in TJua Trade and
AdminUtratlen q} Chines Empire (New York, 1905)^ p, 74, Basic
facts whicli ^Ufy tlac /udgmeDt iue: the absence of excise tax^ and
aU tasca Cm muhilc wcLildi, Very low custom tariffs until modem times,
and a grain policy wliich was handled exclusively frum the point of
omsumptkin. Furthermcruj given the nature of ofllcialdoin, the wealthy
trader could actually have Lis own way—for money.

3, The transitiiin to this system, which corresponded to our bank
cuirrancy as osempMed by the Hamburg Bank, was only brought about
throu^ the emperor^ debasement of coinage and paper issues. Hence
the transitian Is secondary. The report and unperial decree published
by the Feting Gazette of 2 June, 18QB, demonstrate the e$senlml con-
fusion which could be pmduced even m recent times by a sudden
contractinn of copper money at a given pkoe. It led to the increased
issue of local bank notes and resulted in n0Q differences and specula-
tion fn bullion silver. Moreover, gnvemmeuE interaction was com¬
pletely inept. For the best presentatlnn of currency condiLioiis see IL B.
Morse, Tlie Trade and Admitii^atian of ChSrwso Empire, (New

NOf£S.

253

Yurk, lE)03}r ClmpL-er p. L19 §. Cf. aLsd J. Edkin^Sp BanJtfng
FrtcEs fn (1905)+ From ancient Chinese literature we may reler

In Ssii-mn Ch^fen {Se Tsien), Chavamiei ed., vql. HI, Chapter

XXX.

4. The term for monuy h huo^ meuiui tif exduinge. Pu huo means
voluahk' Jiieuiul uf exeliange.

5. Beside^f the chapter in H. B. Morse^ op. and Jos. Edkins^

ChineiiL- Cummey (London see the pubDcaWon of liiot, Joarrusl

Amitiiiys (^rd Serie, voh 3^ 18^17) which fs sCiJI nsefuJ. Biot relies
tsscntudly on the authority of Ma Ti.iandin. 'fhe New York doctoral
theais of W, P, Wei, “iTie Ctifrency Problem fn China>" Sfudtcj in
History, EcommieSy etc. No. 5^ (1914) p the Erst chapter o£ whJdi
contains some materjol^ ctane to my attention only dining pr-DoFreading.

6. With every usuthqimke geamantLc superstition {dismissed below)
led to tlie suppressiem of mining operadons. liul it fs a ridiedous esag-
geruliun for Biot* Ick:. attn^ to compam these mines to those of FotOsL
Kidithnfen defirtitely setti^ this issue. The nuncs £u Yuuiian rLpnrtedly
yielded only about 13 miUlOn taels Irom 1811 to 1890, despite the
relatively low royalty of 155t. Even in the 16 tb century (ISSB) a silver
rntne was opened at the oust of 30jODO taels which aubs«<juently yielded
28,500 iacls+ The recurrent prohihitfons of IcJid minttig precluded the
yield of silver aa a by-product. Only during Chinese nde of farther
lutlia (Cambodia, Annom) and Diirma^ wbtdi wexe rich in silver^ did
the permanent iiifiux of silver increase. Alsu Western trade via Bokhara,
especlaUy during the IGth century, brought au influx of jdlvfu- for si\k
exports. TheUp agoiup since die 16 e1i century, trade with Europeans has
brought silver. Fmm the Armais^ it may be cnncliided that on impor¬
tant reawii for the usually low prnflEability of the silver mines was the
great imDertninty, besides an Imi^erfect technology,

7. Emperor Chlen Lung's history of the Ming dyimsty reports tre-
mendons corv^^ for the exploitation of gold mhies [Yu tsiuan tun^ han
fcing mu, hr. by Delainarro {Faris, 1805) p, 362J. In the year 1474»
550^300 fi^) people were idicgcdly reguiionted fur such corv^es.

8. According to %Vcil, foe. ml. p. 17, nucting proBts ara said to have
bcT^u imknawn In early ChlneKo minting policy. Hut this is unbehev-
ublo since the notoriously tremcndoiis countetfelt minKug would not
have dxtfn been profltahk. Besides the Annals expressly report the
coiitrnry (see bftlnw),

9. Concern ing the impact of the f^n^-shul see VffrkFfcs SmcK

No. 2 <H. ilavret^ ''La Prov-fncfl de Ngan riel,'* 1893) p p. :^9.

10. According tO a comment of tlie Wen hkin rung kao^ reproduced
by Biol (/(wmnf Asiatique, 3rd S^ne, vo!. 3, 1838, p. 278)+ the ooin-
age of tliu entire cuuntry' uiiiJcr Yuitu Ti (48-30 D.c.) is supposed to

3 . 254 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

have been estimated at 730,000 tjiian at 10,000 ch*ien (copper coins)
of which 330,000 were held by the state (!). Ma Tuan-lin considers
this amount to be low.

11. The Annals (Ma Tuan-lin) state that copper, at that time by
weight, was 1,840 times more valuable than grain (other sources state
507 times as much), whereas under the Han copper was allegedly
1 to 8 times more valuable than rice. In Rome, too, during the last
century of the Republic, the exchange rate of wheat was surprising.

12. The **p ien-cIiienT paper money of the 10th century was re¬
deemed by the treasury.

13. The heavy iron money in Szechwan, even in the first century,
caused the Guild of the Sixteen to issue certificates (ch*ao-tzu), i.e.
bank money which later became irredeemable through insolvency.

14. An older Chinese statement of state income from the Annals
^Ma Tuan-lin) appeared as follows:

grain.

copper coins.

heavy silk goods ....
light silk goods ....

silk thread .

gauze (very fine silk)

tea .

hay, fresh and dried .

fire wood.

coal .

iron .

997 B.c.

(in thousands)
21,707 shih
4,656 ktian
(1,000 cJiien each)
1,625 p'i (pieces)
273 pi
1,410 ounces
5,170 ounces
490 pounds
30,000 shih
280 shou
530 sheng
300 pounds

1021 A.D.
(in thousands)
22,782 shih
7,364 kuan

1,615 p’i

181 pi
902 ounces
3,995 ounces
1,668 pounds
28,995 s/ii/i
?

26 sheng

In addition in 997 b.c.: items for arrow wood, goose feathers (for
arrows) and vegetables.

However, in 1021 a.d.: items for leather (816,000 sheng) hemp
(370,000 pounds), salt (577,000 shih), paper (123,000 sheng).

In 1077 A.D.: the year of the monetary and monopolistic trade
reform of Wang An-shih (see below).

silver . 60,137 ounces

copper. 5,585,819 k^an

grain . 18,202,287 shih

heavy silk material. 2,672,323 pi

silk thread and light materials ... 5,847,358 ounces

liay. 16,754,844 shou

NOTES

255

To this is added a mixture of items such as tea, salt, cheese, bran,
wax, oil, paper, iron, coal, saflBower, leather, hemp, etc., which the
annalist, for no clear reason, states in terms of total weight (3,200,253
lbs.). As regards grains, one figured 1)» shih to be the monthly per
capita allowance (the shih, however, varied considerably in size).
The silver income on the last balance, which is absent in the two first
ones is to be explained either as the result of the trade monopoly, or
as a result of the tax collectors having continued to figure copper
money in silver, or because the latter account states net receipts, the
former supposed receipts (?).

In contrast, the first account of the Ming dynasty in 1360 shows
only three items:

grain. 29,433,350 shih

money (in copper and paper) ... 450,000 ounces (of silver)

silk materials. 288,546 pieces

This means a considerable increase in the silver horde and an elimi¬
nation of the numerous, specified taxes in kind, which at that time
obviously figured only in the budgets of the provinces where the re¬
ceipts were spent. Not much can be done with these figures because
the initial deductions cannot be ascertained.

From 1795 to 1810 the central government received 4.21 milhon
shih of grain (of 120 Chinese pounds each). This was accompanied
by a considerable increase, both relative and absolute, in the silver
receipts, facihtated by the strongly active balance of Chinese trade
with the West after the godsend of American silver. (Recent develop¬
ments are of no interest here.)

According to the Annals, in olden times it was customary to demand
tax dehveries of increasingly valuable goods with increasing distance
from the capital; less valuable goods were required from the environs
of the capital. [For the above figiues see Biot, op, cit. pp. 315, 316,
319, 330. A few obvious mistakes in the German edition have been
corrected. Ed.]

15. This happened, for instance, in 689 a.d., according to Ma Tuan-
lin.

16. Cf. the export of grain in 683 a.d. to Japan which then had a
copper standard.

17. According to the Annals this happened, for instance, in 702 a.d.

18. For the first time in 780 a.d.

19. During the eighth century the minting masters argued that 1,000
imits of copper transformed into works of art (vases) were equivalent
to 3,600 units and, thus, that the industrial use of copper was more
profitable than its monetary use.

» 256 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

20. In 817, and often since that time, no more than 5,000 kuan
(of 1,000 cKien each) were allowed. Time limits on the sale of surplus
copper holdings were stipulated according to their size.

21. Apparendy this was first used for the oflBcial seals. After Shi
Huang Ti it became the external mark of the transition from feudalism
to the patrimonial state.

22. Thus in 1155 the Tatarian rulers of Northern China demanded
IM percent.

23. This happened even in 1107. The notes were devalued to one
hundredth of their face value by inflation.

24. Thus, in 1111, when paper money was issued for the frontier
war.

25. This was the regular form which, initially, had also been recom¬
mended by interested traders. These notes were in the nature of
treasury bills.

26. Old or worn paper issues occasionally were exchanged at only
1/10 to 1/3 of their face value.

27. Even in 1107, because of the war against the Tartars, one half
of every payment of sums over 10,000 cKien had to be paid in paper.
This often happened.

28. Marco Polo s description cannot be accepted. A 3% deduction
on the worn notes turned in and exchanged for new (paper!) notes
and the issue of gold and silver for notes upon anybody’s request is
impossible. This remains so even were one to understand Marco Polo
to mean-which the text would permit-that the industrial purpose had
to be stated. Marco Polo also reports the compulsory sale of precious
metal for notes.

29. By the middle of the 19th century the ratio allecedlv droDoed

from 500:1 to 1100:1. ^ ^

30. J. Edkins, Chinese Currency (1890), p. 4.

31. The prebends of the oflBcials of the Ch’in and Han were graded
in sixteen classes of partly fixed sums of money and partly fixed pay¬
ments in rice, as stated by Chavannes in vol. II, Appendix I of his edi¬
tion of Ssu-ma Ch’ien. To be refused the privilege of offering sacrificial
meat as payment in land was considered a sign of imperial disfavor.
This happened, for instance, to Confucius, according to Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s
biography. To be sure, documents containing pure pecuniary accounts
were to be met with in what was then Chinese Turkestan.

32. Stone construction replaced wood construction during the
fourth century b.c. Earlier the stockaded capitals were removed fre¬
quently and easily.

33. L. Gaillard’s S. J.’s work on Nanking does not yield much knowl-

NOTES

» 257 C

edge of Chinese urbanism. Cf. Varies Sinologiques, vol. 23 (Shang¬
hai, 1903).

34. We shall discuss below the great significance of the Chinese
guilds. Their diflFerences, which form a contrast to the West, as well as
the reasons for these diflFerences, will be clarified. The significance of
the guilds is even more striking because their economic control and
their social power over the individual were far more extensive t h a n in
the Occident.

35. Naturally, also in China, it was far from the case that every
urban resident maintained connection with the ancestral shrine of his
native place.

36. The god of wealth was considered the universal city god in the
oflBcial pantheon.

37. On the Chinese city cf. Eugene Simon, La Cite Chinoise (Paris,
1885, lacking conciseness).

38. The honorary oflBcial (Giles calls him ‘Tieadborough”), who
was responsible to Ae government for the peace of a place, otherwise
merely forwarded i)etitions and acted as a notary. He had a (wooden)
seal but was not considered an oflBcial and he ranked below the lowliest
mandarin in the locality. Cf. H. A. Giles, China and the Chinese (New
York, 1912), p. 77.

Besides, there was not a special municipal tax but rather govem-
mentally prescribed contributions for schools, charities, and water
service.

39. Peking consisted of five administrative districts.

40. To be sure, the compass was mainly used for inland traflBc.

41. Cf. Plath, China vor 4,000 Jahren (Muenchen, 1869), p. 125.

42. According to the tradition, Shih Huang Ti for instance ordered
a compulsory synoecism of the 120,000 (?) wealthiest families of the
entire country to his residence. Emperor Ch'ien Lung’s chronicle of
the Ming dynasty reports synoecisms of wealthy people to Peking in
1403. Cf. Yu tsiuan tung kian hang mu, op. cit., p. 150.

43. See H. B. Morse, The Gilds of China (London, 1909). From the
older literature see MacGowan “Chinese Guilds,” Journal of the North
China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1888/9, and Hunter, Can¬
ton Before Treaty Days 1821-44 (London, 1882).

44. The guild of the goldbeaters from Ningpo in Wenchow denied
guild membership and teaching of the craft to those who were native
bom. This emphasizes the derivation from the inter-ethnic specializa¬
tion of tribal crafts.

45. Cf. the above mentioned instance of Ningpo which has numer¬
ous parallels.

* 25S «

THE REl-JClON' OF CHINA

Cf, foptoote 41 ubuvL'.

47, Under iht Qwu d^oasty the persf^nal Cod of Heaven, with hfj
ill dignftories Ifoside him, wss allegedly rcpliiced in the cult by the
impersnnaJ expressions of " Heaven and Ear til," ns Legge dIso assuines.
(Cf. Shu Ching, Profegrtmeiw. p, 10^3 If.) The spirit of the emperor ami
the spiiita of thase among his vassals w1k> were of good conduct pro¬
ceeded tfl heaven, There the spirit ooidd appear In order (o give ivum-
ings, (Legge. p, 2,38.) Tlicrc was no hell.

48, 1 he instability of tiiis development toward impersnnalfnn if
shown, for instance, in a curse ftiseribed in ilje year 312 by the King
of Ch'in against Llie Imstile King gf Cb'u, who had allegedly violated
moral codes and broken a contnact. As witnesses and avengers the King
Of Cli'iii Lulled upon J. Ile-iven. 3. tlic tulcr on high (hence, u penunal
Cod of Heaven), 3, the spirit of u river (where presumably the con¬
tract hud been concluded). Cf. the inscription hi Appendix ill, vol.
II of Chavannes edition of Ssu-ma Ch'ien and Chavannes in the
Journal AMaii/ftie, May-June, 1803, p. 473 f.

40, Cf. the exccUcut Leipzig dnctoral tiiesis (J9i,3) of M, Quistorp
(a disciple oI Coiuady) "Maennergesellschuft und AJtcrsfclussen im
alten China," .Utrfeifungtfn de^ Seniinnrv fur OiieniaUsche SaranhetL.
vol. XVIIl (lOlS), p. 1 if. Only an expert cotild judge whether to-
teinism Jias ever prevailed in China, as Conrady asstiiiits. [Otto hranke
after having examined the wurecs anil the lilcrury enntroversy, con¬
cludes that there fs evidence enuugh of totemist snrvtvnb up to the
twelfth century. "Today tJicy have vanished," Op. cH. vol III p. 377.
See also vol. l, p. 74; vol 11 . 4 (K 1 ; vol. II], pp. 51, 311 375 jj sjJ
also Chiipter IV', footnote 3 , beloiv, Ed.]

50 , Quistorp, up. cit. finds traces iu certain rudinientary mythobffies
of Lao-tzu. ’

51. [Otto Franke h^w doenmented und greatly eiiiurged on iliis eom-

purison. He cites Bonifnee's bull Unam sanctum of 1303 "us demon-
stai^g quite eleirly the identity of traits which eharaulerJxe the
CathoKf? Mimrld-t^hxjroh and CLiiiicsie unh-ersaj state Oo vol irr
p. lO^f. Cf. .tisg vnl I. 120 ff., 16J j vol. HI, p, g3 f.. 107; Ed.)* ‘ '

52. Hou "ru, one of the sis ministers of Emperor Hti.ing Ti w^s
deified under the name "Geofui of tliu Earth" (Cf. Snhih Luh KiaiiE
\‘uh Twhi m.^oSre Ofosmphlque rfer XV^J lio^aumen. traiudatwl and
edited with annotations by Mldieh (Paris. 1891, p, Lll, fn, 215)
According to this, a clidtoiirun cult could hurdly have yet exited or
sucfi a title would liu^'e bcou blasphemy.

53. The source uF "univerbalism" In the iduu 0 / Tag obviciuslv ivslEd
in this very fusion. The idea ha.s been ebboiated into a cosmic system
of analogies ivith far greater sophistication ih.in were the Babylonian

NOTES

> 259 «

ctiTict'pt^ derived trom the tnspectioD of tlii; liver, jK!t to mentfon tha
'^metaphysicriil” iJeiis ol ancient Egypt. For a phJloiieplucaJ inteipreta-
tion see Chapter VII beJow nnd the detailed duicu:f!>Juii hi de Cioot's
beautifiil b&ok on [/motTMfHUJip ft sj'stctnaHc treatj^e which

dues uot explore the question of orijidii. But ihe ebrOnomanHc interpre¬
tation ol caJeJidnr inaldrig and of the calcnihu' per is obviously sec¬
ondary. Likewiae acL'ondary^ i$ the fthsnliite stereutypiiiK of die ritual.
Connected with both is llic rationnl philosophy nf Tao which deported
fronr mysticism and will be discussed below* llie oldest calendar
(Hsiidi ctu^ng^ “small rngulator’’) seems least burdenjed with siich
r/teofogi/iru-iic^ and was obviously devekiped [ifltr the eaJendar reform
of Shih Hiinng Ti. Later the government produced a bas^ie text on
chioncmancy, Shih firien shu, and severely persecutisd all private and
ufiautliorized calendar tnalcing. The Shi7i shu has often been ri^
printed as u popular book ond provides mulcriai tO the "*day maaters,^
the profcfisioiial elifOiiomftnccis. The ancient calendar boand of ths la
shih (superior vmteni) was the historical source for tlico^-s of astron¬
omers {calendar makers) as w’cll as tlie astrologers (mtcqmctcrs of
portent L It also was a source for the purely exemplary and paradJg-
matJeully coiicciv'ed court annals- Originally tin; latter w^as joined widi
calendar making (sec below)* th# annal^ts being calendar makem-

54. For the follmvmg cf. dc Cioot, Rdi^ion of ths Chinese, espe¬
cially pv 33 f-H 55 f-

55. Tldi argument was occasionally used to close die ranks to the
all tixj powerful concubmes of etnpftmrs. Petticoat goveniment was
said to mean prepundeniucc oI the Yin over the Y^rng.

5d. .According to do Cnoots clear [iiid pahistakingly necurate prescii-
tation of the offidal cult in hbi the following were ^vor-

Silupped:

1. ^’Heaven/' wdiich, however, aceordtng to de Gruot, appeared at
the great sacrificial act os prinitiJ iHfer parcj aenotig the ancestral spirits
of the emperor. 2* Fju-th (*^Empress Eaith^). 3. I'he imperial ances-
toi^* also their cults. 4. JJhc C/il, the tutclatory spirit of the soil and the
fruits ol the Held, 5. The ^un and the incKin. 9. Shen Nung, the
f^vtes of agriculture. 7. Tlic arthageihts of stlk-ciilture {the sucniice
was given by the eoripresH). S. Tliu great emperers- However* since
1722, tliis liieludcd all emperors of foiTEicr dynasties except those
w'ho hiid suffered violent deaths nr wm overthimsTi by successful
rebollfnn, for these were indications of the lack of charisma. 9. Con¬
fucius and same corypliecs nf his schooh Tn principle, all of these were
worshipped by the empuior in person.

To tljcsu wer* added, 10. Tfie Cods of Rain and of the Wtnds (T^firn
Shen) and tlm Cods of the Mounlaiits, Seas, and Rivef:t (Ti Kc}. II.

» 260 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

Jupiter as the God of the Calendar (the spirit of the great—Jupiter-
year). 12. The archegetes of the art of healing together with the God
of Springtime (which may suggest former chthonian orgies as the
source of magical therapy). 13. The God of War (the canonized gen¬
eral Kuan-ti, 2nd-3rd century aj>.). 14. Tlie God of the rIaQcica ]
studies (the tutelary god against heresy). 15. The Spirit of the North
Pole (canonized in 1651). 16. The God of Fire, Huo Shen. 17. The
gods of the guns. 18. The gods of the fortresses. 19. “The Holy Moun¬
tain of the East.” 20. The dragon and water deities, or the deities of
biding, tile-works and grain storage. 21. The canonized provincial
officials. All these were (normally) ministered to by the authorized
officials. Eventually, it is clear, almost the entire external machinery of
state was canonized. But the supreme sacrifices were obviously ofiFered
to impersonal spirits.

57. The Pelting Gazette contains reams of official requests for such
^onizations. There is further correspondence to Cathofic procedures
in &at advancement foUows step by step and in accordance with proof
of furaer n^acles. Thus, in 1873, a governor reported on the attitude
of a presiding Spirit of the Yellow River” when immdations threatened.
Admission of the spirit to the cult was granted, but the motion to
bestow an honorific title upon the spirit was left in suspense until such
toe as filler merit might be reported. In 1874 (Peking Gazette,
17 I^., ^er it had been reported that the procurement of his effigy
had brought the threatening flood to a standstill, the spirit received the
tide. The Peking Gazette of 13 July, 1874, carried a motion which
would g^t recognition to the miraculous power of a temple of the
Dragon God in Honan. On 23 May, 1878, a new tide of the “Dragon
Spirit was granted (Pefeng Gazette of that date). Likewise, accord-
mg to the Pefeng Gazette of 4 April, 1883, the authorized officials
requested the promotion of a canonized deceased mandarin of the river
area, smce his spirit had been seen hovering over the water and in
supreme danger was actively seeking to quiet the water. Similar’re-
quests by officials who are very well known in Europe are frequently
t^e fo^d, amcmg others that of Li Hung-chang in the Peking Ga-
zette of 2 December, 1878. On 31 November, 18^. a censor, i
c^ duihoh. protested the canonization of a mandarin whose admin-
utoabon had been by no means excellent (cf. Peking Gazette of the

58. It is im^ssible to distinguish stricdy between “charm” and
non-charm in the world of pre-animist and animist ideas. Even plough
ing, or any other ordinary act which was a means to an end i^s

magic in the sense of taking into service specific “forces” (later on

NOTES

261 €

“spirits”). Here only sociological distinctions can be made. The pos¬
session of extraordinary qu^ties differentiated the state of ecstasy
from that of workaday life, the professional magician from ordinary
people. ‘ Extraordinariness,” then, was rationalistically transformed
into the “supernatural.” The artistic craftsman who produced the
paraments of the Temple of Yahwe was possessed of the “ruacfr” of
Yah we, just as the medicine man was possessed of the force which
qualified him for his accomplishments.

59. This does not sufiBce as the sole explanation, because otherwise
the same development would have occurred in Mesopotamia. It has to
be accepted that—as G. Jellinek has already stated on occasion—the
centrally important development of the relations between imperium
and sacerdotium has often rested simply on “accidental” historical
fates and these we can no longer assess.

60. Therefore, the absence of rain (or of snow) leads to the most
spirited discussions and proposals in die circle of court and ritualist
ofBcials. The Peking Gazette, in such cases, is full of all sorts of magi¬
cal and remedial proposals. Cf. for instance, the Peking Gazette of
11 and 24 June, 1878, during the threatening drought of that year.
The Yamen (committee) of state astronomers turned to the classical
astrological authorities who referred to the coloration of sun and moon,
whereupon a member of the Hanlin Academy pointed out that this
must have aroused excitement. He demanded that the memorial be
publicized but that the still youthful Emperor be protected from the
pratde of eunuchs about evil premonitions and even asked that the
palace be guarded. For the rest, the Empress Dowagers were to attend
to their moral duties, and rain would follow. This report was published
with reassming explanations concerning the way of life of the high
ladies ^d it referred to the rain which, in the meanwhile, had fallen.

Earlier in the same year a “girl angel” (anchoret, deceased in 1469)
h^ been proposed for canonization because she had frequently given
aid during famine (Peking Gazette, 14 January, 1878). Several similar
promotions had occurred previously.

61. This fundamental assertion of Confucian orthodoxy is empha-
sized repeatedly in numerous imperial edicts, memorials, or proposals
of Ae Hanlin Academy. Thus, the memorial of the Hanlin “professor,”
which was cited in footnote 60 and will be cited repeatedly below,
contains the sentence “It is the practice of virtue alone that can influ¬
ence the power of Heaven . . .” (See also the following notes.)

62. Tschepe, op. cit, p. 53.

63. The Peking Gazette of 6 October, 1899, carried a decree of the
Emperor (who had been placed under guardianship by the coup d etat

» 262 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

of the Empress Dowager) in which he bewails his sins as the probable
reason for drought. He added that the princes and ministers had
burdened themselves with a share of guilt through their incorrect
conduct. In the same situation in 1877, the two Empress Dowagers
promised ^to heed the admonition of a censor that they preserve their
“reverential attitude,” which had already contributed to ending the
drought.

64. Cf. the end of footnote 63. In 1894, when a censor had criticized
intervention into state affairs as unbecoming to the Empress Dowager
(cf. the report of the Peking Gazette, 28 December, 1894), he was
dismissed from oflBce and condemned to hard labor on the mail roads
of Mongolia. This was not because his criticism was per se inadmissible,
but because it was allegedly based “on mere hearsay,” rather than
proof. In 1882, a member of the Hanlin Academy knew better how to
handle the aims of this energetic woman when he expressed the wish
that the Empress Dowager {Peking Gazette, 19 August, 1882) devote
herself rather to the affairs of government, since the Emperor was still
young and tender and since work for the members of the dynasty was
best. Otherwise, too, those surrounding the Empress might begin to
criticize her guidance.

65. This theory concerning the responsibility of the monarch was, by
the way, in opposition to other theories which declared that “ven¬
geance” toward the emperor was not admissible (sixth century b.c.),
and that grave (magical) evils would befall anyone who laid hands on
a crowned head. (E. H. Parker, Ancient China Simplified, London,
1908, p. 308.) The theory, like the whole predominantly pontifical
position of the emperor, had simply not always been estabhshed. Ap¬
parently, there is only one emperor whom the army alone proclaimed
a legitimate monarch. But, besides designation, originally acclamation
by the ‘liundred families,” that is the great feudal vassals, was un¬
doubtedly the legal prerequisite for successorship to the throne.

66. Wherever Chinese civilization gained a foothold this whole
charismatic conception of the prince has permeated. After the Prince of
Nan Chao had thrown off the Chinese rule an inscription published by
Chavannes (Journal Asiatique, 9th Serie, vol. 16 [1900], p. 435) states
that the king had “a force which contains balance and harmony” (bor¬
rowed from the Chung Yung), that he had the ability “to cover and to
feed” (like Heaven). As signs of his virtue are mentioned “meritorious
works” (alliance with Tibet). Like the Chinese model emperor, he
sought out and surrounded himself with the “old families” (p. 443).
This should be compared with the Shu Ching,

67. Cf. footnote 65. Below, mention will have to be made of the fact
that the mandarins were considered carriers of magical forces.

NOTES

» 263 €

II. The Feudal and Prebendal
State

1. E. H. Parker, Ancient China Simplified (London, 1908), p. 57.

2. See for the data, Fr. Hirth, The Ancient History of China (New
York, 1908). Translations from the “Bamboo-Annals’* are to be found
by Biot in the Journal Asiatique, 3rd S^rie, vol. XII, p. 537 ff., XIU,
p. 381 ff. The inscriptions on bronze vases and the odes of the Shu
Ching, as sources for the period from the 18th to the 12th century b.c.,
are discussed in Frank H. Chalfant, “Early Chinese Writing," Memoirs
of the Carnegie Museum, vol. IV, No. 1 (Pittsburgh, September, 1906).

[Since 1928-29 archaeological work of the Academia Sinica (in
Peiping) has unearthed a great many objects—turtle shells covered with
many characters, urns, tripods, vases, bones, etc. For a discussion of
the especially important bronze objects, their material, form, and
decoration see H. G. Creel, “On the Origins of the Manufacture and
Decoration of Bronze in the Shang Period,"^ Monumenta Serica, vol. I,
p. 39 ff. For a discussion of the literature see Otto Franke, op. cit.,
vol. Ill, p. 52 ff. Ed.]

3. Cf. Chavannes, Journal Asiatique, 14th Serie, vol. X (1909), p.
33, note 2.

4. Cf. Kun-Yu (Discours des Royaumes), de Harlez, ed. (Louvain,

1895), pp. II, V, 110.

5. Cf. Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s (Se Ma Tsien) biography of Shih Huang Ti
(Schi-Hoang-Ti), Chavannes, ed. (1897), p. 139.

6. Yu tsiuan tung kian kong mu, op. cit.

7. Chavannes* edition of Ssu-ma Ch’ien II, Appendix I, note 1, p.
526.

8. Ssu-ma Ch*ien*s biography of Shih Huang Ti, Chavannes, ed., p.
149, note.

9. Le Tscheou-li, ou rites des Tscheou, Tr. by Biot, 2 vols (Paris,
1851). Allegedly, it derives from the government of Ch’eng Wang,
1115-1079 B.c. Only the nucleus of it is believed to be authentic.

10. Designations of the Major Domo, Minister of Agriculture, Mas¬
ter of Ceremonies, Minister of Justice, of War, of Labor as Minister
of Heaven, Earth, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter are doubtlessly the
product of literati. The notion that the budget was determined by the
mandarin of Heaven is certainly unhistorical.

11. Ssu-ma Ch’ien has recorded the actual administrative organiza¬
tion of the Ch’in and Han. (Cf. Part II of Chavannes’ edition of Ssu-ma
Ch’ien, Appendix II.) The t*ai wei, as military chief of the generals,
was placed beside two visders (until Emperor Wu). The tsung sheng

» Sfi4 *

THE ftELlClDN OF GHJNA

was c]itiiiu:IIur auJ bL'ud uf iha mmi ilominid and provincial oIBciab.
Thu fuitg cheng wan fn diarg^s of ^crLflciil rites- At the safoe Liiue ho
was Grand AntnDloger, Grand AwgiUp Grand Fhvsidaii and—idiaracrter-
istfcaHy—responsible for dykes and canola. Thou follow the pa sJia
{literatithe hug cl^ng iing, Lo., tliy superintendent of the pcilacses
the te^i wci, the coLaiuajjdaut of the palace guards; the t'ai p*u^ chief
of the uniiary, Uic Ting ud, the ounkter of jnstfee; the tiaii chief of
thu vusiab and barbariaD princaSk the tsung shefig^ ovtrsecr uf the
impcriidi family^ the chi su n^i shiJi, overseer ol maga^zicS and hence
minister o£ ughcultine and commerce; the ^/uso fu^ tic chief uf the
imperial household [a “vice-chiafj'* Ednl* Under tie sluio fu stood: the
ahu, a eunuch [the Atiancial admMstjator of the court, Ed+h
the shung wei^ thn pol^ chief of the capital; the chiaitg cha shoe fu,
the superlntendeot of buddings; the chuug sht\ overseer of the house¬
hold of the emprew and the successor to the throne; the nei s/te, the
prefect of the cxipital; the chu chueh chung tewf, supervisor of tltc vas¬
sals, on olficc whicli was later cumhined with that of tliu tirn tea {see
above)- In contrusft to the mlianal and hence hisluncdly unreliable
ccrrutructiuns of die Chou Li, this list portrays all die Irratinnalisfn of a
patrimtmial officioldam emerging from the management of the house¬
hold and the ennduot of lituaL Then by accretion camo the manage¬
ment of the army, ihe administration of justice, the contiol o£ Lhc
irrigation economy, and finally, purely political intercuts.

12. ’Tatriarclial'* is not to be C{|uated wafh snltanibmp hut refers to
the patrifljchiilism of hereditary sib charkma as manifested in a rihiallst
pondfea. BLiihaps ifu: latter origmally tyansmilted his charisma by
destgnatlug a 5ueeessor, as the ckssica] book^ postulate, and only later
did hk ebuiismu become hereditary.

13. The Annals of Ssu-ma Ch'ien (first centuiy h.c.) have in part
been translated and edited by Edouard Oiuvonneji. J\ Tschepe (Ibc. czt.
p. 7) has described the pnllrioal development of the feudal states of
Chin, Him, Wei. Chou, and Wu on die basis of the Annuls. (TschepeV
w'ork fs useful despite the unav-oidable ‘'Christian* rcflectirins, w^hioh
often strike us as somewhat naive-) When Tsehepe k quoted alone the
reference Is to tlic Chui Annab. In addition, wu shall refer to tlic
“DL^cours des Jloi/flume*" which we Iiave repeatedly quoted,

1-t. For these conditions, sec E. H. Parker, op. p. 144 f,

15. Cf. F. A- Tschepe (S. J-), Histairp^du Ru^aume 777-

£07h

je. That Si, tlic>^ wuiu figuiud per I,TOO consumers of salt in ibe
statu of Clun wliich wtis die finrt to be mtionalized* This is based on
Hirth s inlcipretatiun of a paragraph of Ku^n-tzu. See Hirth^s AmTfeni
/ffcrfor^ of CJiinfl (New York, l^JS),

NOTES m 26S <

17. By flow, shitenaents of E. H+ Paik^ p* 83) seem

iinaccephiblo.

18. Of this, more will follow iu our diH-iission of \he land tax.

J9f Cf. S^u-ma. Chlen's tract vnL III+ Cbavannn!!, ed-

20. Tschepe, cif., p. 54.

21. Ibid., p. m,

22+ Wc oannut discuss kere tlin tnchfiical naturn of thei^ old “books.”
Paper is a prodm^l wkrdi was irnpoirtod ot n much later tnue. Reading
and writing were practiced long h^cre^ and dnubtSex^ly long before the
time of Cunfucim. Von Bosthom's iassumptlon {to be nnentioned)»that
the ritual literature was orally b:an$£Oitted and hence that the "buimng
of the books" was a legend appaienliy is not acknowledged by de
Crootp who accepts the latter as fact evea in bis latest work.

23. The Annals (Tsohepe, op. ctt.^ p. 133) contain from a plan for
alliance calculations of the military strength of the various stateif. Ac-^
curding to these flgures^r an urea, of 1^000 square fi (1 Jr = 537
meters) could presumably muxter chariots^ 5^000 hnrse^^ and
50,000 moD of whoin 40,000 were fighters, the rest service troops. An
(alleged) tax reform plan from the 12th centuiy b.c. called for 10,000
war chariots from on area of the sonic size. Analogies from the Middle
East lead u$ to assuint: that this was several centuries after the zntrt)-
ductiOD of tlte war charint.

24. CL TschepCp op. cii., p. 67+

25. During the Period of the Warring States a strong patriotism
aroused by the barboriiLns prevailed in the border states, cspeciidly the
state of Ch m. When tiie khig of Ch'in was taken pzisuner “2,500"
families subscribed the funds for contmmng the war. Id 112 a.d., a
Han emperor, in financial straits, sought such a ^cavalier loan”—fn
Lcopoldion Austria a similar attempt was madfl e\'en In the seventeenth
cenlury—but apparently had fafnt success.

20- Tschcpe, foe. eft., p. 142.

27+ Both ore meiitioncd ki a lecture of one of the literati reproduced
hy Tsohepc, foe. cTt.j p. 77.

28. Ibid., p. 01.

29 . Ibid., p.59.

30. Ibid., p. 14.

31. Ibid., p. 33.

32- “The nobles and the people prc5erve their rank and station,” says
the emperor in an imcriptioij recorded in the Annals (Tsohepe, op df.,
p. 201). Another inscription flktingiusLes betiv^ecD "uobles, officials^
and people.”

33. See die paragraph iu Tschepo {to bo discussed presently) in

^ 266 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

his ’"Histcaire du KayaiiTne de Hcin/" Vorref^ SmolagUiues^ vol 31«
p. 43 (far th# prin.c(p.i[litv of Woi in 407 u.c.).

34. ihfd.

35- 'tVnditfon has the scholar Li Ssu^ tin; powerful mtnlirter of old,
itafe m a memonoj thi: iiniiortkiiice of the litenti (mad generally also,
of die foreagii-botij, uicluding the merchants) for priocelv poWLTj ibid.^
p-231,

30. For iii^tuiaots the inscriptfnn preserved by SsiU-iiiu Qi'ien id his
biogtuphy (Clmvannes^ wi. vol. V, p. lOG) states that all ijondwct €on-
Irary to ruiUiOu is objectionable. Ntimeiogis other iuseriptions (diid^)
prohio tlte mlioniaJ order, which the Emperor L'^tHblished in tha realm.
Tills “rationalism" did not prevent liiin from sponsoring the search for
tile elixir of life.

37- This statenient of Shih Huang Ti is tnmsraitted in his biography
hy Ssii-mji Ch'ien (ChavaiiDes, cd- voL II, p. 162). By tlie way, tlic
hteraH ministers of the Warring SUitex, and even Wang An-shih
(eleventh century a 4>.3. were not always disincl^ed in principle to a
Similar view*

38* Apparently enurt eunuchs first appeared during the elglith cen¬
tury B.C.

3D. Forced laborers working on llio Great Wall reportedly numbered
300,000 (?)- Even higher figures arc stated for servitude as a whole.
To be sure, the Great Wall was erected over long periods of time. The
requisite Libor might well he estimated since the wall comprises at least
ISO million cubic metenr of miuslve stmelure, Bccoiding to Elis4e
hecliis' ealeulalion.

40. The main concern was to furnish tlic necessary provisions for the
soldiers and convicts doing enrv^. The annalUits (Tschcpc lot:. cjL,
p. 275) calculated tlie cost? of transportation tn the plate of cfjnsiimp-
lioii at 16,200% of shipment. Because of oDnstrmption on the way only
one of 132 lojids ig said to has'e reachtd its destinatioiip which ijf course
may occasionally have been the case.

41. lo€. cif.p p. 303 f. The eunuch stemmed from a noble
family which had previously been convicted.

42. The Annals oud especially fisu-ma Ch'icu in his biogFapby of
Shih Huang Ti (Chavaimes, ed. vol. U, p. 178), present mme data on
this attempt, Ibe originator of Uie plan appirenUy was “Master Lu,"' a
Taoist, whom Shih Huong Ti had commi^oned to search for tlie herb
of life. 3^ue mail/' it was said, ''is hiding hlnisell and dots not sbmv
himself," whkJi h a special appllcatioo cf eertom principles cf Lan-
Ua, to be discussed below. But Shih Huong Ti actually ruled persun-
ally and the complaint of “sages^ of nil peryuasions was that he failed
duly to seek their advice (loc. irfh. p. 179}. The suceessnr Erh Shih

NOTES

K 267 *

liufing Tu hvf^d ^ Lt., as <l "hidden man'' imdt;r tii^; guojrdi^-

ship dI his favnrllft lUKi ctmscquenUy did not (

|j. 2ee). This was the typical cyniploiia of the Conftjcians when tlio
Tiiobts uiitl llic eunuchs were in power, Tlieir i d l hn de will be discuHicd
beLuw. Even uuder the founder 0 ^ ihe Hiui dynasty, the foll^wring,
that LI the feudal lords, relurned to power after tlio Enaperov's dotvn-
fall, 't his happened even thougli llio entire bureauCTaty of SUOi Huang
Ti was retained and even w-hen tJje literati were restored to inflneiiUal
pQsiliuiis,

43 , Tsehepe, op. cU., p. 25^ f. (allegedly an inscriphon).

1L Ibid,, p. 267 f.

4ox Ibki.r p, 07. See also the discussion of Yang ^vith the vassals at
the court of Prince Hsiuu Kui^g, ibid^, p* J

40. ChiUftCt eristic are the Bj^urcs for the grtyss Income of the treasury
as stated by Mn Tuan-Un. Chinese authois ascribe to this their tre*
pnendous und entirely uiunotivatetl ddforenees (especially duriisg tlio
SLfteentli eciilnry). (Ct. Biot, journal Asiatii^ue^ 0rd S^rie. voh ISM,
and ibid., vol. 8, iS33, p. 326.) After all. it k obvious what It means if
even tn 137i]', S-4 million chHng (equal to 4S mnUon Jui) uf taxable land
had beep registered ^ in 1502^ howL-ver^ 4 2 nnllfon, in ifi42, 4.3 million^
bat in 1582, again 7 million ch'ing, (equal to 39.5 million fia) were
comited. (In 1745j, 30 years after the introduction of tax quotiWi al¬
legedly 16 J-9 rnflhon were oountL-d.)

47. At the end of the Peking Gazt-tie for 1679; we find an estiiiiatc
of the iiiiiiibcr of living candidates for olEcc who liad been promotLd
to tlio second civiliiui degree and hence %vere fully qualified for office.
There are estimates, too, on the average age of the catididales, on
whom a maxfmiim quota was Kxtd lor each of tlie twa degrees, and
thefr probable Tnugevity. There ore too many, imlejts the number of
promoted candidates of advanced age is quite small i there are luo few
because tile iiutiibcr of transfijrs from military careers, especially tliri:
Mandius, bus to be added. Mofccver, there were candidates whn had
purchased their qualification for office- Even assuming inslflad

uf rnugKly £1,200 li\ing candidates and assuming u population of MO
mil hens, there would be but one candidate per L1-12>0CK) population.
In the 15 provinces, including Manchuria, there were only 1,470 ach
ministrative districts of the lowest rank nnder an independent State
nffidol (the chih Cftterif pciribtis. there was muglily ami cfEciai

per 248,000 popublion. If we mcludc the higher fndependent offices,
^riiich are provided f(?r in llie budget, there would be one higher official
per 200,000 population. Evea were one to add part of the dependent
and temporary ofFtciak, a ratio would result whicli would allow Cer-
many, e g-, to functian w'ith nnly 1,000 administrative and judkkil olfi^

m

THE h£;licion of china

ci^ wilh fecond law degree;. Quite d4{re4:i:ul figure; result if One estrar
palates the faiiiil/ and pnpuLitian figure^r of the Chinese police. The
figures fKUn these matarfnls far liie year ISB.5/e wvia plaond at the
di^p^ of Sacharov {AfbeiUn dir Kaissfiicb Rtasisshen Uetandt-
whaft, u ChrlsHan niissiOu, translated by Abel and Mecfceaberg, Berlin
1^), According to these figures, in the district of Peking and to twu
utliCTdistrfots Ujct« were resident (hence not employed) fu 1S4S about
26,3(10 tnilitaiy tunl civilian officials; in 1646, 15,808 active effidaU
were provided for in the budget and 26,700 officials were classified
M cjmdidatia, two hardly recnncaablc figures. Obviously not only tiui
holders of second degrees but dso the aspirants, and all Manebu
oniceTS, aio included.

48. For Mine high offichils a breach nf this principle was fiequenUy

Li Hung-chang, for instance, remained chief administiutDr
^ UuhJi for several decades, A single prolougatinu of three yeaia has
Iwp permitted but Otherwise the principle has bwn adliered to rather
strictly until now.

49. Often there were as many as six ministers, but the only offidds
of any importance other than the Viceroy were the provinefd gover-
IMIS, judges, and Chimcellorrs of the lachcquer. The dumeellw of the
Mc^uer originally was the sole and highest administrative offidaL
fur the governor was a mtoris dominb;us (fonnerly often a eiinuch)
who ul^ately bec^e a resident agent. All departments other than
ttOM of ^aiifia and jui^co were unofficial. Even tile Imvest affidttl
fd«cn), whuse formal htle means -herdstmin.- had twu secretnries^for

the prefect of the f,*, reteiiied
visible or at foast demonstrahlB fiinctious (the mmiagement of wuier-
ways, Bgnciilhife. studs, Riain. shipment.'!, proviaiuii of qonrteis for
t^ps. and B^nem] pdiee administration), though his office Was can¬
kered e^wkally a supervisory hoard and a cliannei of commimica^
Hons to higher <>11^3. Tho functions of the lowert offidaL however
w™ avmply en^elopedic in nature, for he was virtually in charge of
Md respoiistblc k i3vcr>*(ng. With the large provincial boards sSS

PiKiile. read constmcUou, etc.. os^S
q>eoud officials muy he ccmmiHloncd and
authonzed fliJ /m>c. the oDnoepl gf a jurijt*“ (bio wot of

Alabaster Nct^

Commenterti'S on C/une^B CHmtmi Law. which is not avaiiable to me

DCrt^i,

50. Its official name was “Cimal of the Tribute TtansDorls" Cf

51. The memorando and receipts egaceming ihese enterprisfls ere

n01:es

» 2£9 c

ki poii prcscrv^ In the di:>cwi'entK MV'hldi Amel Stein has j^atlicred £a
TurkL-^-teii, Ln some pke» the leqlainftlion erf dry hnd udvEuiu^d throe
steps djaily, cf. CLuivuDaeST Docupiffnts Chinois d^cou^eriat par
Aurel Sisin danx le sahle du Turkeiiaf^ OfUjntai (Oxford, 1913),

52i Cf . ChavsiiirieSp loc, cit., p. Xl ff.

53. Despite the common assmnpton^ it is quite unceii^ whether
eliiiiatoc ehmiiites played (Uiy part in this, to any event Ihtr dismtegnt‘-
tion uf thf* corv^ sys^tem would be sufEcieot esqilaiiatitKi, for in tbeso
areas land caiild be kept under eoltivutiuu oiJy if the question nf “costs"
was never raised. With speeiul Cfops tt work<ir could sulxdst on this soil
but oQidd never extract a full liveliliood. Obviously the land was kept
under the plmigh^ despite certainly tremciadous subsidies^ only In order
to provision the gojTi$Oiis and raissinns with cusily perishable goods.

54. P. D, C^mdoTp SJ,, op. cit^ p. 35.

55. Yu tsition iti'on kan^ op. Cit., p. 351 -

SB. See above, p. S30-32. footnote 14, for budgetary accounts of ^o
central government fitim the lOlh, 11th, and 14th centiiry. According
to the Afmah, the taxes in kind on the whole appeared to be seyded hy
distance from the capital Thus, for ftKample, die first aone sent grain
with straw, the second only grain, and every following iOne sent goods
of liighcr specific value, Le., embodying more labor. Thu is quite be¬
lievable and accords with otlier reports.

57. Cf. Aurel 5teid*s findings covenng the period Ofl-137 a.b.
jChavanuos, cd., op- Cif.). The officera receive their military pay in
money but it is questionable whether this ia also true of the troops (No.
53) though their dutfung was at least partly purchased with money
(No. 42). Moreover, the book of expenditures of a Buddha temple (of
a later hme, though) shows a full money economy with the hbiiig o£
artisans a$ w^ge w^oHfers and the recording of fill payments in tmnis of
money (ibid.. No. 969)- Jjoter these practices relapsed.

58. In die year I8S3, the imperial factories delivered 405,000 laeh
wprth of silk and poreclaiii at cost-price to the court (f^efcfng Cax^ef
S3, 24, 27, 30 Jamiaryi 13, 14 June, 1&83). Added to this were the
deliveries in kind from the provinces^ which at least partly were defr*
tined for the court (silk, precious paper^ ete+) and partly for political
purpo^ex (iron* sulphur^ etc.), fu IS^. the provloce of Shansi yBinly
petitloDed for suppleraeotaxi' fundi, siiioe the gai>da to be dulivurcd
(except iron) h&d to be porchasffd first.

59. On die kiid tmt see hint's wurk, which is still useful in many

ways. Journal AjkdqtWr vol. 6 ( 1838),

60. To be sure, diese figures arc very unreliable. One has to con¬
sider that, before the tai ctinipronilse of 1713, ihe olEcioJi were inter¬
ested fn minimiztog or fixing tlic number of taxable sub^ts (there was

» 270 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

a head tax then). With the fixing of tax quotas this interest subsided
(see below). After that, the reverse obtained and it was in the officials
interest to boast of big population figures. Since then, only the gods—
to whom they were communicated—were interested in these figures.
High figures thus proved the charisma of the particular ofiBcial. Even
figures from the 19th century are quite dubious, for instance, the ab¬
normal increase of the population in the province of Szechwan. Still
Dudgeon, On the Papulation of China (1895), computes the popula¬
tion figure of the 14 provinces for the 1880 s at 325 million.

61. During the last 30 years all schemes for direct taxation have
failed, for they would have mainly proposed taxes on the prebends of
mandarins. The patrimonial conception of the income of the oflBcial
comes to preeminence in all the ramifications of mourning his death.
According to the ancient meaning, which was preserved in Chinese
oflBcialdom with special distinctiveness, mourning was to ward off the
wrath and envy of the spirit of the departed toward those who, as heirs,
had appropriated his possessions. Disregarding the fact that originally
a considerable part of his belongings were to accompany him to Hades
(including the widow and other human sacrifices), the heirs had to
avoid the dead-house and the touching of his possessions for a long
time. Poorly clad, they lived in another hut and abstained from enjoy¬
ment of their possessions.

Now, the oflBce being as much valued as a mere prebend and the
prebend as much as the mere private possession of the prebendary, a
case of death with obligatory mourning unconditionally resulted in re¬
tirement from ofiBce. The constant and numerous vacancies, the tempo¬
rary unemployability of numerous officials, and the piling up of candi¬
dates who had lost their oflBces through mourning, constituted a great
political calamity. This was especially so during epidemics, hence, for
reasons of state the emperors alternately prohibited too greatly ex¬
tended mournings, or, fearsome of the spirits, they enjoined mournings
—both entailing corporal punishment.

Li Hung-chang was sharply though vainly ordered by the Empress
Dowager to take a vacation from office, instead of retiring upon the
death of his mother (Peking Gazette, 1 May, 1882).

62. This is suggestive of the way the American party boss taxes
officials whom the elected head of the victorious party has appointed.
He does so for his own as well as his party's benefit, the difference being
that these taxes are usually fixed.

63. Jamieson, Parker. Cf. the latter s computations and estimates in
his Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, p. 85 ff.

64. This conception is clearly revealed in the rescript reproduced in
the Peking Gazette, 11 January, 1895. The complaint is that certain

NOTES

» 271 «

(lower) officials retain the prebends for more Aan three years and thus

deny others “their turn” dranJtommen ). /-.r - _

65. On the rentier spirit, see for instance, E- H. Parker,

History, Diplomacy and Commerce (London, 1901). He is a 2,0^
hundredweight-(rice-) man,” i.e., he receives an annual rent of this
amount, the usud classification of a rich man.

III. Administration and Rural
Structure

1. It is not possible to discuss prehistoric Ctoa here, particd^ly the
original nomadism which has been supposed by suiologists. NaturaUy,
the nomadic peoples of inner Asia repeatedly mvaded and conquered
the river plains even in prehistoric times. Cfely the Mongols s^nously
prepared to maintain themselves as nomads

of L agriculturists, and they did so for a time by forbidding die esti¬
vation of land surrounding the capital. Consumption of milk,
remained ahen to the Chinese and this speaks more clearly ffian ^y
tradition for the continmty of the primeval hoe and 8"“®"
sides, the ceremony of handling the plough w^ among t^*® acU

of the imperial pontifex maximus. In view of this, the nom^ic deriva¬
tion of p^ or even aU of the old ruling sfratum may weU be msignifi-
cant. The existence of the “bachelor house (see above), of course,
nothing to do with “nomadism.” but indicates that m these commumties
the men engaged in hunting and warfare while Ae
the land. Milk consumption has obviously been absent m Chma a Irag
time and this fact contradicts the nomadic hypothesis. Large catrie
were used for work or were sacrificed; only small cattle were normally

^Frdit history of the rural structure in connection Nvith the fiscal
system see N. J. Kochanovskuj. “Semljevladjenie i seml,ed,el,e w
Kitaje (Isvjestija Vostotschnavo Imtituta d.g. tsd., 190J/^ol.

2 (Vladivostok, 1909) and A. J. Iwanoff. Wang-An-Scht i jevo reformy
(St. Petersburg, 1906). Unfortunately other Russian literature \^s not
available to me. I did not have access to A. M. F»elde, Land Tenme
in China,” Jottmd of the China Branch of the Royal J^ttc Soa^,
vol. 23, p. 110 (1888), and scarcely to any other pubheahons ot this
journal. For further references see below.

2. Reproduced by Biot, loc. cit. . i -t

3. Cf. R. Leonhard’s statements which are correct in this pomt it not
in others, especially not anything concerning Antiquity. See his review
of the valuable but somewhat one-sided book of Lacombe, L evolution
de la propriete fonciere,” Schtnollers Jahrbuch.

» 272 <

THE RELltllON (JF CHINA

4, Tl^ TiVDiJd be ceitaiu if totemist assotnntMms couJd be ^ho^vn to
have existed in China, as Cbjirad^ malntaiiis. Willi the development of
the sib, the emwgenl ruling strahim hits universally withdrawn from
the easentiAlty plehetaa totem assochtiijn, [See Chapter 1, note 49, Ed.J

5. For instance, in the state of Cu, the model Cbnfucian state, the

following levies wiere at one time presexibed for the existing registration
unit of ^-1 ch iTig: 1 charfotj, 4 10 hend of cuttle, 3 armowl

and 64 nori-amiared foot soldiem. Obviously this register presupposed
that the sibs, oMndated ui a registratiOD unit, would in their turn meet
the nnlibuy requirement by providing the soldiers' pay. Presumably,
reoo^ u, ^nxt compdsoiy dnift remained subsidiary. FAsewhere we
shall show, how fn India, similar conditions led to piebendaj landloni-
ism, m other places in China the army draft extended directly tn the
m vi u fatiiily, lu the state of XiU even this arradgciitcnt shows a pm-
iimmary- phase of army recruitment by the patrimonial prince instead of
a summons of vusaals, and hence indicates the elimination of feudalisra
as a mihtajy system, European analn^es arc to be found ip Dclbrijek's
exoelJeijt presentatldu of Uiisie conditions for the feudal army

inL .‘=^- Asfatitiue. 3rd S«ie. vol. S,

Zfl3S {the presentatiOD ur based on the Wen fidon * tmg fc'oo),

7. It always be kept in mind that the first fairly well ascertoined
date m Chinese liistory (Chavannes) is the year 341 r.c,

«■ T^y ft if that a family of five could live on 15 meo

(about 5o arJ of cultiv.ited loud that Is not exclusively used for garden¬
ing To us this is still an almost imhelievably low ficuro

9. Cf, Qiapter I, abos'c,

10. Piking Gaserte of 14 June, 1883,

IL Eagles of Japanese hniisehoJd registers iaduding a caiculntion
Of their aUohnents are by O. Nachod in his history of Jappxi,

Wdtgeschfchfe, ed by PflugV-Jlartmig (Uerlin, 19 Hi). Zjl III, p]

la. Tje^groups of ten are to be imdemtood as wspcialions of ten
fflbs each The attempts to revert to the family nr to tlie mdividiuih
instead of Ute sih, have only lately been Successful.

13. While nuisfan authors may wish to rediscover tlie nadi/>l of the

opZrhhm fn the normal land claim, it dioidd not be overlooked
that a Vilbgc minmurism resulted frem these purely tux-determined
measures only under Hussion conditions, particularly Um tax ll.ihilitv of
rammunity. But tlie latter has appirently b«m absent in

14. ^Himably the "well" system was mtmnd from tba Clilnew char¬
acter which represents a square partitioned into nine fields. However it
was so named, too, because irrigaHoo ditches, pip^s, and a loiig-lajittog

NOTES

iuutidi^itiOD of the dammed-iip aren were iDdlspciisable to rice ctiltiva-
tiou. Throughput Asia (including Java), tiiia involved thoroughgoing
mnovatioDS in pfOperty reiations and evcry'vher* it particularly meant
fiscal interventiPDr the baib of wbfob lay in the indispenaable ckan-
neli^tlnn of water. But it k quite possible that the systemn which is
usually considered quite old, rationally evolved from the original cul¬
tivation of the chieftain's land by sib members.

15i FrppriclOrS living close to the Impeiiol Canal and burdened with
Caubd liturgies played a considerable role in the Tai Fing RebcUiou.

10. See Wang An-shih's memorial reprtxiuccd by Iwanuff, op,
p. 51 L

17. €L diu two reports of Su Sbih against Wang An-shih, tbiJ., p-
1S7 ff., ISO f. and the ubfCelioiis of other opponents, among them,
Ssn-ma Ktiang, ihid., p. 196-

18. These matters are connected with the structure of intenial ad-^
ministration and will be discussed below.

19. Even In the 8th ceutuiy magaziines for silk and linen arc said to
have existed.

20. Cf- the excerpts from Uie Annals in P. A. Tsehepe (SJ.) “^His-

teins dll BnyaTime de Tsui* 777-207,” Vari^t4s vol. 27,

especially p. 118 f .

21. This piohlbition would seem to have actually arrested tlte de¬
velopment of llie coi&t\at^. For even nowada}™ small tprtancy does not
Seem to be widespread.

22. Here, banner fiefs of the Manthu gaiiisons, the hereditary land
prebends of the border troops drafted for htiiripuSr and the proprieters
living elp$e to canals, streets, etc., may be bypassed.

23. And this was enforced by the oaurtsl Tlie fudge, to be sure, had
to refect the eomplamt, usually “'admonfshing” the buyer nut tn be
"'hard-boiled” but to pay. Only influential people could escape- See
Huong, lac. cit.^ and the text below.

24. Thus F+ i^ierTo Hoang translate:^ tlic terra. Cf. his "NoHoii tech¬
nique siir la propri^M en Chino" (Sbunghai, 1897)^ Varidfi^s 5itio-
h^fque^, voL 11 $ 20.

25. Tlic suKiestral land is frequently referred to in the Fekinfi

Catzeiie.

26. Honng, (oe. Cit-^ for instance* Appendix XX!!!, p. 119, We liave
mentioned aixivc Uiat tenancy is nnt^ relatively speaking, very ei-
tensive. Besides the general prohibition of the colanate in 1205, the
ddScuIty of coUecting farm rents seems to have been primarily decisive.

27. Hoang, np. cif., p. 12, No. 31, p. 1S2, 157 f-

28. An «c.iTnple is: “fajnily uf tlie etcmfll peace."

29* In this oonnection, the system of registration and the land regfe-

^ 274 €

THE BE Lie JON OF CHINA

ter £r:i1; eluczidutsd id :i cute of Bumb^dllif^ ^Land Tenure fn

Chinju” C/iCjia (1890/91). The unit of registraNon was a sib

property deflignnted at tha time nf the regJstratlGn by the aneestral head
of a flib. in case dfvufnn bad al ready cjceyrred, the part holcUiigs were
listed. Even in the eveDt of land divbian Of change of owiicc^hiy^ liitr
origLiia] registration number w^itli its desigltatioii was retained, and only
the amount of the tax and the fumily which was to pay part nr all of it
were recorded. Ten heads uf sibs (ut about this niimhar) fnrmad a
group and, recording tu ancieqt Liw» were reiq^nsfb]# for the tax. They
wiiTc gnardioiis of the peace and they also myned in common land
which was either fanned or leased by the head of the sibs^ The head of
each xib collected the taxes of his sib, and whosooer nrigtit fuil to
present his tax recfoipt by Nov^ember 10 couJd be deprived of lus land
by the group of ten. If the households of a sib could not raise the tax,
the sib's ancestnitl land was sci^d , The composition of the gmiiips of ten
was Subject to change. The above^'irientiuncd note reports the reqtiest
of the head of a sib (or part sih) to form fointly wfth nine others n new
group of ten. The i^hce of die sib liuldlngs varied considerably. A vary¬
ing numlier of groups of ton was arganized Into a hJ;^er nnitr aguui
fur mooting what wore uriginally military and Hturgleal charges. More
an the sibs follows.

00, It is maintained that unified property holdings of 300 ha were to
bo found bnt that ossentially larger piopeliy units of indbidiial land¬
lords were rare. The (Frankfurt) docioraJ dissertation nf Wen HsEan
Uu, J?ie diCS laendfic-hcri Grand urid Bodmis uml sc/ne Bewirt-

^hafinng tn Uhrna f Berlin, 1020), which came to my attciiUoii ut the
last moment, due^ not present figures.

LJ, L. Buek has eomputed the average faim of owners to be 4.22
acrus, uf psirt msmors 4.2S, and of tFn.iTits 3.50 acres. He estimates that
17^ uf the formers are tenants, les.? than Ono third part-owners,
and over one half owTiers. See his Lund Utilizaiim in CMlm (Chicago,
1937), p. 192. According tn Chen as much ns 40J of aii

farm l.ind in cci+aln areas of Kwangtung is owned by lauded sibs. CF*
hts ijindhrd and Femant In (New York, 1936), pp, 37^1, H. T,
Fei contains some material on sib loridlordLsm in yunn^iD. Sec his Earth-
edttna ( Chiengo, 1945). ChruDie conditions of wm-fsire, inHutiun:,
and usury capitalism, of course, iiave greatly Increased the burden of
die pcftsajilry, many of whom have been fnreed into deht^ banknjptry
and die loss of djcir luuds. Even in 1938, Ij&oraard T. K. Wu stated that
“tlic choice for tlicm is either etmtinued collapse of their econniny or a
complete ulterDtioR of die usurv'-meTchantdandlord system," Cf. his
‘'Merchant Capital and Usury Capital In Rural China."* Fur Eastern
Snrtjffi/, hfarch 25, 1938, p. 68, Ed.]

NOTES

27S

31* There were sorne 15 official holidays bot no Sunday rest,

32. Al the beginniii^ of die twentiedi century in die gardening areas
of the pLuins^ credits uinoujiti.^ to $750^1,000 p«T ha. TLiu does not
taikft accniint of the much larger purchasing power of the Western
money in the Orient. Ifiterest wa.s catcuUted at 7-y5 on bans, or better,
die yield of labor, for according to avaikbb figures, ei the quality of
tlie soil increaxi:d die percentage of tlus "'rout'^ decreased.

33. It amounted to 3-9% in agriculture and 12-30X in retail trade and

industry.

IV. Self-govemTTK'nt^ Law und
Capitali^

1. We may rufer iu tlic iiuolciis of tlie T'oi Fing “rebels” {lH5t)-64) *
According to the Puking the Hung Yi Tang, die sib of the

founder of the Fai Flng rebellion, wm persecuted as a secret society
as late as 1895.

S. According to Conrady, l0Cr cit,^ C^tang r/ito moans tho “vil¬
lage of the Chang funiily."

3. Possibly Ixith forms of the bachelor bouse, tlie “cooperative'" and
the “authoritarian" nn^i, existed side by side in different regions. On
the whole, evidence compiled by Quisloip, loc, eft., speats rather for
tho former type. But note tlmt Uic legendary Emperor Yao handed the
govamment over to his successor Shun in llic anccslor-hall. One eni'
p^ror dircatened hLs vassah by pointing to the wath of their ancestral
spirits. Such examples, oompil^ by IL'irth fn his Ancient fJirforp uf
China, support the assumpUou of the authoritarian type of Kichelor
lioiiso os do Eiiipcror Fan Keiig’s in the Shu Chhig [cL Legge, Citr^
p. 258), and the apparftfnn nf an empemrE ancestmi spirits denmuding

explanatioti from the emperor for his abuse of power. Totemiat
stuvivals are listed by Conmdy, ioc, at. Although important, (hey aine
net entirely con viiicing. [See Cliaptcr 1, note 49, Ed,J

4. The above-mentioned sparing of the last descendant of an over¬
thrown dynofitv^ is rooted in the concern that thu ancestral spirits shnnld
nnt be disturbed. The ^pirits^, tiller all, were those of former emperors
snd hence povvcrlul.

The Peting of 13 April and 31 July, 1883^ reports the com>

plaint of the Chang Tu-in, the represiintative of the Ming dynasty,
coneemiiig cultivation of the ancestral sites of the Ming. We may refer
lo udoptfons and reeaU die abave-meiitioned state sacriflees for the
Spillts of those who died without leaving descendants.

5- Cf. the speech of the Prince of Chuu in ttic Shu Ching (Legge,

Jr 276 n THtL RELIGION OF CFIXA

p. 175)- Th# prayer au bekalf of fho Empeiur was made not to
Heavcu but to the anccsrtors- p- 3Si ff-

a. De Croofs references in Iiis t/nrtcrfw^ffut? show clearly that the
Spirit of Heaven 15 treated as primus intCf p<$rC&^ Aceordlng to the re-
s crip t published in the of 29' Septenibef, tbe

’'spirits of the Euiecstors" had condemnEd the abortive attempts^ at re¬
form of the Emperor and of X'ang Yii-wei. Besides u person s own
merits. Heaven considcis those of the ancestors (de Groot, The fle-
of thcf Chlnjsss^ New York, 1919, p. 27 f.). Hence Confudun
doctrine maintained dikit for a time Heaven may watch the sins of a
dynasty and interfere only at tbo point of complete degeneration,
whichj of couisOh is quite a ccinvement "llicodioy/'

7. There are cases in which adoption has been revoked because the
death sacrifices fOr the nahiral father were endangered (Fckins Gfl-
zette, 2B April, 187S>-

0, Fatricide was considered sndh a terrible *vent (punishable by
*slow death") that the govtraor of the province was removed frnni
office just os in cases of ontiiral catastrophe (Feiifig Gazette^ 7 Angust*
1S94)« In 1895^ when a drunkard killed his grandfathcT the father w'OS
also punished for having failed to educate the son to "endure even the
most severe purdibinents from hl^c oldf!!.*'

9. Occe^xojmlJy sub sibs had their ''snb-aneestor halls.”

19. Accurding to ckisdcal ritual, adoption couM be consummated
only ^vithin the sib. Even in the same village, however, family statutes
made wridely varying dispositions. Farts of the old ritual had been
almost universUy abrogated. Thus* the dnoghter-iii-law no longer
mourned only her pajcntS'^jn^law, as pteseribed, but uLiO her
parents. There svas "deep" mourning not only of the father's death, as
was oScialty prescribed, but also of the mother's,

11, Thcrefom A. Mers*s version is highly probable. He reads

instead of ^^ySlv 4ir<ATt^orrKr Here, too, we coafroot the
fear of ^crying" to Gnd+ and in case of suicide, fear of the ''spirit” of
the desperate maii.

12, Feuds against outsiders were cmcasioned by tax repardtfoni
death feuds, and especially confiicts whicli the fing shuj,
tmuacers, provoked among neighbors. Every btiildfng, and espedally
eii'ery new grav-c, could harm the onocstral spkils of the eslrting graves
or could up$et the spirits nf the rocks, rivulets, hills, etCn To seltk such
feuds was often welJ^gh iinpCfcSSible because uf the genmanKc interests
at stake on both sides.

13, The FeJttog Gazette of 14 December, I&S3 reports, for ii^tance,
the purchase of 2,000 fwow (1 mou 5-62 ar} for 17,000 taels. Besides

NOTES

^ 277 €

sAorific«, Mplicit oiciitiOR i5 m^dfi of su|^p4rtwg ^vidows and orphans
aud financing the scfiuul kcno rcnts^

14. Wemi^y to Eugene Simon^/-a (F^iris, IftSS).,

and to Leong and Tan, ViUuf^e m\d Tmcn Life in Chim {London,

15. As Late as 1899, the police were cniomcd not to treat azi uii-
kuovi'ii strangers^ people who h^d a claim tu tlieir ancestral land but
who had g)one -ihrfvid. (Peking Cn^iette, 12 October, 1899.)

16. As a result of herediUiry paititfons mdividiial property often
consisted of scatlered holdings of five to fifteen lots.

17. As noted above, in die city they '^■ere tJie guilds that had oitan
usurped extensive self-govemkig luiictions.

la. This should be compared to the book by the Iwo Chines
bachelors which Lius already been cited. TIk^ part dealing with die vil¬
lage is far belter than dtat dealing with tliu city. One simply camiol
say much about the **city" as a social structure. Aualogies can be round

in Gertnotuc law^ . « i .

19. The village temples were not considered Taoist shrines. (Lt..

Cliapier VII.)

ao. Especially, tiie temple priest held landed property. If the temple
had been founded by donors honorific titles such as shan c/m, l.c..
Master of Youth, were givcii in compensaiti[}n. The priest lived fr^m
fees oad grain stipends, hence the more numeruus du; temples, the
poorer the village, tlowever, only one ol the temples was the village
temple.

21. To niise loans through the temple was considered meriturious.
For this see Dcmlittlc, Sockd Life of ike Chinese ( London, 18^).

22. Data on the existence of die sib elders can apparently be found
for all periods. Under the Hun variously composed sub-groups hme-
Licuied III dieir side. As a rule tlicy were elec^sd officiuL in their fifties
who were entrusted ^vilh isecurity police, joint liabiUty, die dut>^ of
reprimanding, supervision of sacrifices, allocation of the rar\'Ce, tax
collcoHon and hence also lax liability'. Under certain conditions they
might be justices of die peace or they might administer adult educa¬
tion; occasionally they might also he rEspunsible for reeniiting and
training the militia, Accordiiig to the new' arTangcTncnts under the Elan,
nine by eight families cfiidally constituted a fi; ten li comprised erne
fVng under on elected elder; ten tVng made one 7un headed by an
devtcd san-ho whose main task was popular educatiun. To tliis must
be added the shih fii, i.e., the tax supervisor and justice of the pca^,
and the fu tse^ llic police commijsioiierK Tbe main purpose was mih-
tery, Cf. the discussion of A. J Iw'anoff, Wong-An-Shi i Jem ref army,
(St Petersburg, 1908).

» 278 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

23. For this point see A. H. Smith, Village Life in China (Edin¬
burgh, 1899).

24. Usually the kuang kun was athletically trained. Like the mem¬
ber of the Camorra or Maffia he sought unofficial relations with the
yamen of the hsien-official who had no power over him. A village em¬
ployee, the village head, a justice of the peace, or at the opposite end,
a b^gar could function as a kuang kun. The situation for the rest of
the Pagers could become hopeless if he had a literary education and
was possibly related to an official.

25. The decrees of the Peking Gazette refer to them as “gentry and
notables” whose advice ought to be sought.

26. Cf. the report of the Peking Gazette of 14 April, 1895. Two sib
associations freed a man who had been arrested by the tax collector.

27. S. Hoang, “Melanges sur radministration,” VarietSs Sinologiques,
21 (Shanghai, 1902), p. 120 f.

28. I did not have access to the several recent and good doctoral
dissertations on these associations.

29. The forms of the associations were suggestive of the tpavoi. A
credit association (she) might accumulate a money fimd and auction it
off for use or distribute it by lot (Smith, loc. cit.). Credit might be pro¬
vided by friends in which case the debtor was made president of a
club and by honor of the club repaid his debts in installments to the
members (his creditors). Doolitde (op. cit., p. 147) gives examples of
such clubs. Those who received refunds were often determined by lot,
an artificial substitute for the old neighborhood credit association and
for bankruptcy proceedings.

30. According to Doolittle, loc. cit.

31. The government was interested in this question with reference
to applications for examinations since a quota of prebends was allocated
to the provinces. Even during the Han period the candidate's home
town and district were always added to the name or official registers
such as that of the army. At that time the district was undoubtedly the
home of the sib.

32. For this see E. H. Parker, Ancient China Simplified (London,
1908), p. 112 f.

33. Even in recent decades the imperial rescripts took issue vdth
judicial decisions made on the basis of private letters from influential
persons {Peking Gazette, 10 March, 1894). The interminability of
trials was such that imperial rescripts ascribed to their length unfavor¬
able weather and droughts or the ineffectiveness of prayers {Peking
Gazette, 9 March, 1899). Legal guarantees were completely lacking.
Between the lines of imperial rescripts can be read the party intrigues

KOTES » 279 €

which created antegonisms wilhiu otEcIaldoni upon die fomidiug o£ a
fiicloiy C^izetie, 4 Miirch^ 1895)-

34. Mcsmwi^r kanwledge^ only J. Fknge has occasionally

and indepeDdeutly argu^ in such a my that it is ccrtalcL he has lorgieV
recognized the ^ji^niEcuiit reason for the collapse of pcililicoUy oiietited
capitalism. Unfnriunatelyj i (^xnot locate the passage uL the moincnC.

V. T}^ Chinese

1. Yu Isiufln rung Inan tang inii [Mmg Hi^rg of Emperor C^ikm
Lurigh Irans* by Ddamarre {Firrii* 1865}^ P- 417*

2. As eminuuL im aulhoidty as von Rosthom disputes this point in his

“The BuTDiDg of the Books/' Jotirriai of the Pefang Orienro/ voh

JV, Peking, imi, pp. 1 ff. He believes thiit the sacred tojcls were oraUy
transniitted until tho Han period, uiid hence that they are in the stimc
tradition that prevailed e^diLsivdy in early Indin. Tho fnstsider is not
entitled to pass judgEnentH hut perhaps the following may be said. The
uniualistic seriplures at least caimot rest on oral tradition andj os the
calcolatiDn of the eclipses of the Sun show'?! they go bock into the
second mtllenniiini. Very much of what elsewhere is (Hccordiug to the
usual aisumptlcUp reliably) reported oi the mchives of the princes and
the importance of script and the wrilteu communication of the literati
could jusl as little be reconciled with the ubover if one were to extend
the view of the eminent expert hegond the ritual litcmhire (that Is,
literature which has been brought into pcetic fonu)* Here, of oourae^
Only expert smologists have the last word* Eiod a "criticism OH the part
of 3 nDn-expert would bo presumptiious+ The principle of strictly OTfll
tradition has almnst everywhere applied only to charismatic revelations
and to chaiistnaHc ccmincntHiies of these* and not ta poetry and dl Jac-
tic$r The great age of script as such comes out in its pictorifll form and
also In its orrangerneut of tho pictorial characters^ at a late psirlod the
vertical columns divided by linos still refened boek to the origin fmm
Scored dLvIjM of bamboo sdeks whldi were placed side by sidOr Th^t
oldest “contracts" were bfiunboo scores or knotted cords. The fact that
all contracts and documents were made out in duplicate form is prob¬
ably rightly considered a anrvivai of this technlqiifi (Conrady)*

3. This explains also the stereotyping of script in such an extraor¬
dinarily early stage of dovalopment, and henOO It produces an nfler-
dfeet even today.

4. E. de ChavaraiCS, Jminwf of the Faking Otientd Society, vql. TIT,
1, TS^, p. translates Td eke ling hy "jpand astrologor " Instead of
“court annalist “ as it is usually rendered- Yet, tho latex, and especially

> 280 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

the modem period knows the representatives of literary education to
be sharp opponents of the astrologers. Cf. below.

5. P. A. Tschepe (S.J.), “Histoire du Royaume de Han,” Varietes
Sinologiques, 31 (Shanghai, 1910), p. 48.

6. During the fourth century the representatives of the feudal order,
foremost among them the interested princely sibs, argued against the
intended bureaucratization of the state Ch’in by pointing out “that the
forebears had improved the people by education, not by administrative
changes” (this harmonizes fully with the later theories of Confucian
orthodoxy). Thereupon the new minister Yang, belonging to the
literati, comments in highly un-Confucian manner; “the ordinary person
lives according to tradition; the higher minds, however, create tradi¬
tion, and for extraordinary things the rites give no precepts. The weal
of the people is the highest law,” and the prince accedes to his opinion.
(Cf. Ae passages in Tschepe s “Histoire du Royaume de Tsin,”
VariStes Sinologiques, 27, p. 118.) It is quite probable that when Con¬
fucian orthodoxy articulated and purified the Annals it very strongly
erased and retouched these features in favor of the traditionalism which
was later considered correct. On the other hand, one must beware of
simply taking at face value all the reports referred to below which
testify to the astonishing deference paid to the early hterati!

7. Although the princely heir of Wei alights from the chariot he re¬
ceives no response to his repeated salutations from the king s courtier
and hterary man, who is a parvenu. To the question “whether the rich
or the poor may be proud” the literatus rephes “the poor,” and he mo¬
tivates this by saying that he might find employment any day at another
court. (Tschepe, “Histoire du Royaume de Han,” op. cit., p. 43.) One
of the literati is seized by a great rage about a brother of the prince
being preferred over him for the post of a minister. (Cf. ibid.)

8. The prince of Wei listens only in standing to the report of the
court literatus, a disciple of Confucius (loc. cit.; cf. preceding note).

9. Cf. the statements of Tschepe, “Histoire du Royaume de Tsin,”
p. 77.

10. The hereditary transmission of the ministerial position is con¬
sidered ritually objectionable by the literati (Tschepe, loc. cit). When
the prince of Chao orders his minister to scrutinize and find some land
suitable as fiefs for several worthy hterati the minister thrice declares
after having thrice been warned, that he has as yet not found any land
worthy of them. Thereupon the prince finally understands and makes
them oflBcials. (Tschepe, “Histoire du Royaume de Han,” pp. 54-5.)

11. Cf. the passage concerning the respective question by the King
of Wu in Tschepe, “Histoire du Royaume de U,” Vari^th Sinologiques
10 (Shanghai, 1891).

NOTES » 281 «

12. That ako incx)me was an end sought goes without saying, as the
Annals show.

13. Once when a princek concubine laughed at one of the literati,
all the prince s literati went on strike until she was executed (Tschepe,
“Histoire du Royaume de Han,^ loc. cit, p. 128).

14. The event reminds one of the “finding” of the sacred law under
Josiah with the Jews. The contemporary great annalist, Ssu-ma Ch'ien,
does not mention the find.

15. Tschepe, “Histoire du Royaume de Tsin,” loc, cit., p. 53.

16. Individual concealments are confirmed (for instance, the attack
of the state Wu upon its own state Lu). For the rest, in view of the
scantiness of the material, one may seriously raise the question as to
whether one should not rather consider the great, strongly moralizing
commentary to the Annals as his work.

17. In 1900 the Empress Dowager still took very unfavorable notice
of a censor s request to abolish them. Cf. the rescripts in the Peking
Gazette concerning the “orthodox army” (10 January, 1899), concern¬
ing the “review” during the Japanese war (21 December, 1894), con¬
cerning tlie importance of military ranks (1 and 10 November, 1898),
and from an earlier period, e.g. (23 May, 1878).

18. Ck)nceming this practice cf. Etienne Zi (S.J.), “Pratique des
Examens Militaires en Chine,” Varietes Sinologiques, No. 9. Subjects
for examination were archery and certain gymnastic feats of strength;
and, formerly, the writing of a dissertation; since 1807, however, the
writing of a section of one hundred characters from the Wu Ching
(theory of war), allegedly dating from the time of the Chou dynasty,
was required. A great many oflScers did not acquire degrees and the
Manchus were freed from taking them altogether.

19. A taotai (prefect) for his military merits had been taken over
from the oflBcers* ranks into the civil administration. In response to a
complaint an imperial rescript (Peking Gazette, 17 September, 1894)
comments as follows; although the oflBcers conduct in the matter in
question has substantively been found free from fault, he nevertheless
has shown his “rough soldierly manners” by his conduct, “and we have
to ask ourselves whether he possesses the cultivated manners which for
a person of his rank and position must appear indispensable.” There¬
fore it is recommended that he resume a military position.

The abolition of age-old archery and of other very old sports as
elements of “military” training was made almost impossible by the rites,
which in their beginnings probably were still connected with the
“bachelor house.” Thus the Empress, when rejecting the reform pro¬
posals, makes reference to these rites.

20. The French authors for the most part designate shSng yiian, hsiu

» 282 « TUE nEL^fiTON OF CHJ.NA

t/fli by "brtccaiflureate" [bachelor^:* cliu jAn by ‘Ifoeiatiate"

[I!la5te^^s dugrcc], cJjib skih by ^'^dad-nrate.'* 'j’he degree gave a

tiakn to u liiipund unly la tba top grddimte$. Tbe backclors who had
n.ci>ivfd a stipend w.'ere calM lin f/ieiig prebendarifis),

baehekrs selected by the dureetor and sent to Peking were called p{ia
kun^^ those among them who were udinittud ta the college r/u itong,
and ihoiw who hAd acquired the badi{:lor degjee by ptnrehASe were
called chiiitn shmg.

21. The choiisipnadc quuliliesi oF the descendant siiriply were proof
for those ol his sib, Lcnce of the forebears. At the time, Slii Huang TJ
bad abolished dib custom, as the son was not to judge die lather. But
sirtoc dicii ulmost every forinder of A oeiv dyjrasly Las bestow^ ranlo:
to bis ancestors.

22. By the way, this is a rather ecrlain symptom of its recent origin/

23. Cf- for this: Biotp, Efisai stir I'hktoire de Tinstmeiion pabUqit^ cn
C?iSn^^de la cofpotmton i/or Lettr^^ (Parta, 1S47)- (it Is still u^efuL)

£4. Complaints at Ma Tuan-Un^ tranjilated In Biot, p, 481.

25. Themes for them mo given by Wilhams, ch 7S, foe. cif.

20. This held uspeciaDy for the esatnftiations for the master's degree,
where die tlwniv of the dissertahnn often called for an erridlte, phflo-
logical. litorar>'p and historical analysis of Uic respeettvp ebssfeal text.
Cf. the example given hy Zj, Lyc- cit.j, p. 144.

27. This held especially for the highest degree (‘^doeloratc”) for
which the emperor, often in person, gave the themes and for w^hich Lt-
classified the; graduates. Questiom of administrative expediency, pref¬
erably connected with one of llie "six questioits'* of Emperor T ang,
w-ere custofflory topics. (CL Biot, p. 209. note 1, and Zi, lac. cit., P* 209.
uotc 10

28. Skio Hioh, ed. de Harlez, vol V, p, II, voL I, pp. 29, 40. Ci the
quotiitiDii from CJiii Hsi, (hid-, p. 46. Concerning the question of
gcoeradonx, cf. 1, 13.

29. fjMT. cit., I, 25, furthermore %. liitrcKluctioii No. U f.

So. There were IfleraTy prescriptions also for this^

SL tt need hordly be meiilioncd diat what is here said about
language and script reproduces ^dus(vi^bj what such eminent sinolo¬
gists, as espctmhy the kte W. Crube, teach the layman, Jt does act
result from the aullior's own studies.

32. J. Edldns, "Loeal Values in Chinese ArithmeHcol Notation,**
fourmd of tht- Feting OritTital Society, /, No, 4^ pp, f, xhe Cfuiic^
abacus used the f decimal ) patitiema] value. The older posiuoiiol system
which has fallen into oblivion seems to be of Bahylonian origin

as. De Harlem, Sfcio fJtoh, p. 42, note 3.

NOTES ^ 283 t

34+ Abc^ Tinikuvsld^ durrh (itiSO-SlJ, by

Sdimid (Leipzig^ 1S£5)^ pmphasiKes this.

Sd. Far sndi a Ke:lf-|iTtp<tachiRent of a frofLll&r Oifficcr who had b^o
uiattfintive, se* jNo. 567 of +4ufeJ Stchis JacLuiurutifj edited hy^ E. da
Chavsnnes. It dates Irom the Hau ptiaiod, Luace Iting befoTa thp Jnht)-
ducticn of exaniinatjoiis.

36. The begiuniugs of the present Peking go back 10 the

tiinc of die ^carid mler of the Tang dynji^ty (61S-S07J.

37. Aetunlly one finds in the PoAfng Ctizefte^ with teltrctict: to the
reports partly of censors, partly of superiors, kudadoaa luid proniotions
(cKT the promise of sgch) (qr descA'^Lug olEciois, dtiuioduiis of insuf-
fidendy qualified ollicuUs for other offices f^diat he may gather ax-
parfeiK^^r loc. cih, 31 Dccoixibcr, lfi07 and many other Issues), siis-
pensidQ from ofEco wJtli half pay, espulsion of totally imqoalifi^ ofE-
eials, or the stutement that the good senTcas of ao o^oiol itre balanced
by faults which he would have to remedy before further promo Lion.
Almost always dotafled re^asons are given. Such anaounccrmeiils were
uspecially frequent At the ^nd of the year but dierv waa aJ^o a great
voliima at other times, TliCA: arc also to be found pusthuinaiLs sentenceji
to be whipped for (obviously) pustliumoii^ly demoted offieiah (Peking
Caxeffe, 23 May, 1805).

m. Cf. A. H. Smith, ViHuge Life in Chino (Edinbitfgh, 1893),
p. 78.

39. For the following jfoo Kuii Yu, Dtscourx d^s Annokr

h/atlonakff efes Etuts ChhioueA de X auV .ddeks, ed. da IJarloz [Lon¬
don, 1895], pp. 54, 75,89,159, 189, and elsewhere.

40, Tsdiepe, VarU^x SUwhgiqiiejt. 27^ p, 38- He begs to be
puaisbed. SimJlarly in A+ Stein's documents, hc^ No. 557+

4L See, howwer. the rescript in the Peking Gusette of 10 April,
189$, by which promotioiis were postluunoiisly given to ofilcars who
chosa death after the surrender of Wciluuwei (obviously hacause they
took the gulh ihemsehey and thti^ prei'entgd the compromise of
the Eioperor's charisma by the disgraca).

42. Tliere ivaa, however^ at kast in erne district, also a temple of
Tai G/ifp the primxiry matter (chaos), from which the two substnneesf
are said to hnve dei'^eloped by division ("Scliih LuL Kuoh Kiang Yuh
Tschi," translated by Michels, p. 39+)

W. AcfCcf ding to de Gf ooL

44^ Gf* the oxeorpls tmnsluted from his memoirs hv Crafiu Kogen

(Berlin, 1915), pp. 27, 29,33.

45. Cf. the elegant and ingenimis^ thniigh qnito shallow^ notes of
Cheng Ki Tong, w^hkih wera intended for Eumpaans, (Chim Wfid die

^ 2&4

THE HEElClOK OF

German by ScbultzE [Dicsdun imd Lcipseig^ 1^96]^ p.
1S8)h Coniiemmg Chinese conversaHnnj there are some ubseiraHuiis
wfaicli well Agree with what has been said above in Hermann A. Keys-
erliiig. Thv Jrdi^c^ Dkiry of a transL by J. f lolroyd iieeoe

(New York* 192S).

4ti. "Siao Hsufih” (tran^i. by du Hark^ Afma!es du Musce^ Gtiipnel
XV^ JSbd) Is the \v^r\i ni Chu Hsi (twelfth ceatury A.U.), Hur luKr^K
es^ntiai aehievement vw the definitive canonization of Confuemniam
ii^ die jystepiatit £onn he giave to it. For Chtt lisi cF Gatl, Phi-
IcKOphe Tchou Ml, sa doctrine^ etc.,” VoraftA^ Sinolirrgi^irgr^ 8 (Shang¬
hai, 1S91JI, It is es^senWally a popiibr commentary to the hf Chi,
moidiig uat: uf Jibtorlca] ^?zaniple$. Id China every grade school pupil
was facniliar with it.

47. The number of ^masters” was aOocated to the provinces. If an
emergency loan was jjtsned—even after th# Tm Fing rebellion—higher
quotas were promised occasionally to the provinc?cs for the raising of
ct^rtuin miDimtim sums- At every ejtaminadon only ton "doetors” were
aliuwnd to grudiLate, llic first three o£ whom onicyed an f:5ptn:iaHy fugh
preiftige.

48- The paromoiiDt position of pcoonal patronage is illustrated hy
the comparison between the oxtractinn of the three highest graduates
and that of the highest mandarins as given by Zi, toc- cif., Appendii: Ih
p, 2^1, note Ir Disre^rdirig the fael that of ihc 74S higlL offiojuJ posh
tia[is> occupied froin 10^8 to 1914^ 298 vv-ta-o occupied by Manchuj
although but thniG of Uictu were among the highest graduates (the
three t/cu sHr put ni the first place hy the Emperor) » die province of
Honan prormred 38, that ia, one sixth of all higli olficiah^ solely by
virtue nf the posverful position of the Tseng familyp whereas almost
two thirds of the highest stemnicd from other provinces

wluich altogether bad a share of only 80 ptr cent in these ofEccu^.

49. This rncoiis- was Erst systerrmtlciilly used hy the Ming Emperors
in 1453. (But« as a finaucud mcasurep it in to he found even under Shih
Htiang Ti.) 'fhe lowest decree originally enst 108 piasters, equal lO the
eapltalSMd value of the study prebends, then it cost 60 tuels. Aher un
inundation of the Huang Ho, the price had been reduced tn about 20
to 30 taeli in order to expand the market aud thereby procure uniplc
fundst Since 16921 the piirchawirs of the bachelor's degree were id»o
admitted to the higher eznmlnatLOns. A taotci positiun with all iM?c5ond-
ary expenses cost about 40,000 taels,

50. Tlial is why the emperors uj:kder eertain coudiHons when placing
the candidates took into eoiisldurutiun whether or not the candidate
belonged to a pruvince which as yct had no graduate who liuJ been
put in first place.

CtfDTES

^ 285 €

53. Sisii'ina Ch^ien'^ treatise an the balance of tradt; frrt'iiji ^lu'ug}
(No. 8, Chap. 30, in voL 111 of Chavrmnes" ediHan) represents a raths
jttKKl uxanipk- of Cbmeso cameroHsiu, It is abo the oldest doeument of
Chinese ecanoiniis lliut hus bca:n preserved. Topics which in put view
do not belong to the 'balance of trade*^ are: big trading pioCts during
the period of the Wairfng States^ degradation of the nierchants in. tlie
uniJled ernpun^^ e^olrisJon irom office^ fixation of salaries and^ in ac-
cordience u;jV/i foaiion of land toxes^ taxes of eommerc#, forest,

wrutur (upprupiiuted by tlie "great families"), the question of piiVMle
xiicii;eti 2 aticpii, die danger of too large an enrlchnient of private persons
(but: Avfaere there is waullh liicrc is which Is quite Gonfueian in

thuij^t)^ costs of trunifpDrt, purchases of titles^ xnciiupuLcs of salt and
irnti, registering of merchants, irktemal tartEs, policies of piiec slubilixa’
tion, struggles against commissions being given to whole^e ptir\^eyors
to tJie state Instead of direct commissions being given the Artisans- The
objective of tiiis caincrulisL f mot idol policy was infen^d order through
stability, und nut a favurable balance uf foreign Itudc^

55. The C^hung merchants* monopoly of the trade of Caiitou
harbor, iho only one opened to foreigners, cKL^ted until 1695 and had
been set up in order to choke any intetcciurse of the Barbarians with
the Chinese, The cuoitnous profits wtuch tliis monopoly yielded caused
the cuncemed oEce prebendaries tu be dishielUiLd to my volunUuy
change in this conditiun.

,51^. Not only the nfiicia) Ming history (cf. the following note] is lull
of thts but so Is the Xhi li kuo chiang yii chih"" {Hisioire gffogmphique
des XVi Rotj^ume^, ed, MichcU [Paris, 18911), Thus, in 1868 the
harem is excluded hum uff^drs uf stale at tlia request ol the Hanlili
Academy (p. 7) ^ in 1408 representatian of the Hanlm Academy at tlie
c}ccajiion of the palace fire and the demand (topical for accidents) to
‘"speak freely" against the favorite eunuch (cf, following note)*

51. Numerous cases fUustraring this struggle are to be found, f0(t
instance iu Live "Yiichuajv tViig crhlcu komg mu," op. cit. Consider tlio
erteenth ecntuiy: in 1404 u etiiiuch is at the beud oT tlic uxiny (p. 155).
Since ihen tliis occuns repeatedly; liiirip in 142S (p. 220). Heiice^ the
intrusion of palace officials intu the adnunistration in 1409 (p. 108). fn
1448 a Honlin doctor demands the abolition of cabinet rule, a reducrion
of the eoredtf, imd above alh cuimdl meetings uf the emperuT^ with the
literati- A eimttch kills him (p. £5-t). In 1449 the favorite eunuch is
killed Qt the request of the literati (p, 278), in 1457, how^ever, te/nplei
arc established in his honor.

In 1471 die counselors have to communicate with the cnipcror
tlirough tbu L'uiiuch (p, 374). The vcj^ some Is reported by Hslau Kang
(36U28 R.c.). In 1472 w'e meet eunuolis ^crul pulieemen (p. 273)^

» 2 jS 6 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

which iq 14JJ1 is abolished at the ne^iise-tl of the cfirwors (p. S&9). iti
1483 Ui& old ritual i* restored (the aittie occurs in numemus fostanccs).

Tliit; removal of a eunuefa uo 1413 took ao awkwiird eoturse for the
litcmti wbcD llio lu't was foiiud ca tbc eunuch of the literati who had
bribed him. The Bteniti were successful iu having llic list secreted and
in $€feing to it that a different preteKt was found fur tbu removal of the
literati who had dono the bribing (thiJ, p. 422).

55. CL E. Backhouse and J. O- l\ Btand* China undRr th^ Empre^
Dowager (Hemerntum, 1910) and, against this, the famous memorial
of Tao Mo from the year 1901.

56. ^VIiuu in 1441 a sua eclipse predicted hy the astrologers faded
to ouciir, die Bourd of Rites cougratidiited liini—but tliu Emperor re¬
fected this.

57. See the (previausly cited) memorial^ 1875^ of the Hanlin
Acadeiny tn the Empress.

58. fywT* ctt.p Ch.ip. 9, pp. 130 f.

59. See the decree of the Empress of Eebmaiy, 1901,

eO- Loc-d#, p. 457.

61h For iMtance, "Yu tsiuan lung Jden kang mu" {Iol\ viL pp. 167,
223) f 1409 Euid 1423. An edict lorbiddiiig in u uinukr manner inter¬
ference in the administiutiun was given the militiuy aven In t33&

(thid)-

VL The Crmfticuin Life
Orientation

1. Cdnceming the anchorete of the early period^ cf. Chapter VIL

2. Conoemlng BnddhlKm cf. below and Miuc Weber,

find (Ce^rnnmEhi? Aiif^aetze ztir Reiigjbmsozioio^^ie vol,

U) (Tubingen, 1921).

3. Cf. CJiaptcr 1.

4. Cf, Chavannes in the preface to Jiis edition of Smi-rn.i CMen's
tracts conccmiiig the Fang and Chang sacrifices, Jtnirnal of the
Ofientid Society, vol. HI, No. 1 (1890)+

5. Cf. also the poem "Chiu Yuo^ of the tliird eenhiry. Cf. Conrady
in HochscJudvortraef^c fucr Jedertnann,. vol. XIX, XX (UMpiug. 1903).

6. For a discu^inn of the beginnmgSt cf. Chapter VIL

7. Weber's inteTprfltaHve statement fieems to be contravrxjuiaL a

point to which Professor 1^, Chen of the Nab'onal Chekiang Univer¬
sity, Hangchow, was good onewgh tn draw^ my attentinfi. Professor
Ciicn (iivith others, e-g., William Edward SoothhlH) translate^ the
paiisage of tlic dirge Book V//, 34) “I have prayed for

NOTES

. 2S7 €

long/' Ajrthiuf WaJeys transbtion “The Master said, 'My etpffltjon
beg^ Jwi/f a^e>r " and lihi aiuiotaliOn woidd seem to conjiiiii Weber's
point. Waley'^ nute reaeb: “Wluit fustiEe^ ine ki Uic eyes oI Heaven
fs the HFe [ have led. Thare ix no na^^d fur umj riiu now^ la a £rag-
meot of one of the lost books of Chnangtsni there is a paraUeJ story in
whioh Tzudp wants to take the omens at-wint Confucius* chance of m-
cowry, md Coirfudus wys “My omen-taking teas dum long tfgoT
St:e T'ai Fiiig Yu Lac S49, fol- L versO. T/w An£d^ct$ 0/ Coti/udutf,
tnuislatcd and annoUitcd by Arlliur Wuley (Loiidou, 19G8)^ p, 181.
(ChiT Italics^ Ed.)

tJr lllis Is to be found tn the stenographic reports of the Clarke
papers from the milihiiy camp where eqii^\ franchise dhtciuued. in
terms of natumi kw for the first tipae in world history,

9. The cum puss was invented wid it was used On river boats* and by
couriers aiung the land routes of iiiiicr Asia^ book printing wsis in¬
vented and iL<!ed for administrative pinpuses to Overcome tlie slowness
nf copying in tong hand. Cnnpowder wtls inveatedt also paper^ poretf-
kin^ sOk, dchemy^ astronomy (used for astrnlogical purposns of state).
Onnpowder w^as utilised for militory purposes probably during the
tw^elfdi^ certftiiily durmg the thirteenth century* in any case, one cen-
liiiy befurv the Floiculiues are credited with Its use in %v[irs. But tha
Chinese used gunpuw'der in a very primitive luaiuicr. Tlu: pi^efEcation
of the empfre sfmply did not stimulate its perfection. It seems that tlie
guns of the Oceident were feared, in the beginning espeeially because
of their presumed mogicady-detennined effect, and the Chinese sought
to unport Llicni. Cmicunihig tlw iuvcntknos el. W. A. P. Martin,
''Gliiiit:se Dbciiveries in Art aiid Science^” Jounml of the Fekt^
Orivnial Society* vol. IV, p. 10 ff.

10. The term is ambiguous* as we shall see below,

11 . They did so with tho highly unChristian concIusiDa that the
good in man is an artifickl product of culture. Thi^ resulted in a stiU
greater afErmative emphasis on the “world" of “culture* and educa-
tioti liiaii had been given to it by the orthodox doctrfne.

Oi le may indicate some of its njctaphyskal assertions {cf. Fh Forjenel
In tlie /mirtuif Aviatit^uc^ vul. XX [1902), p. 118 If). Tlie eternity of
matter is asserted. Its spiritua] pziiHriplc fui-cAf) is paiidieisUeally con¬
ceived ^s a principle of goodness and as prcduciug the world. Since the
eleventh century it has been represented by an orthodos school of com-
mentatoi?’ logieally* it seem$. it had fittle consistency. For the rest, ft
h Et^umed that even Cbnfucius believed in the asirologioviilly based
cosmogony later advocated by Ssu-ma Chien (the five elements sue-
ceed one unotlicr in the form of the early rulers)» Cf. Chavannes iu the

» 286 «

THE RHLiClOK OF CHIKA

which in 1481 h abolished at the request of the ceoscrni (p. 289). in
145 S ihc old ritual is restored (the sarne oociirfi in numerous instances^).

Tile icinovol of a eunuch in 1418 took an awkward course for the
litcruti when thu List was found on the eunuch el the literati who had
bribed hiiii. Thu literati wuie siicccssfiil In having the list secreted and
in jteeinig^ tn it that a different prelect was found for tJiu removal of the
hteratf who had dona the bribing (ihiJ. p. 422),

55d CF. E+ Backhouse and O. T. Bland, Chirm undter the Empress
Derwager {Heinemftnn, IB IQ) and, against this, the famcnis memrariBJ
of T&o Mo from the y^eai IQOl.

56. ’Wlien in 1441 a sun cch'psc predicted by the astrologers failed
to uccuTf the Board of Bites congnitula^ed tiini—but lEic Emperor re¬
jected this.

57. See the (pre’^’itmsly cited) meniLuialt 1876^ of the Hanlki
Academy In the EmpreiH.

58- lJkt. c#-. Chap. B, pp. 130 f.

5B. See the decree of ihe Empress of February, IQOIh

CQ. rtt. p> 457-

GI^ For instance, 'Tu tsiuan lurig Lkn kung mu" [foe. pp. 167,
223) , 1400 uiid 1428. An edict furbzddiiig in a similar maimer inter¬
ference in the administratiaii was given the military even In 1388
(ibid}.

VI, Ths Confuaian Life
OTientation

1. Concerning the anchorets of the early period, cl, Choplur VIJ*

2ii Coneeming Buddhism cfi^ below and Max Weber, iliuduirmtiJ
tind Btiddhfffinus {Ce-s#miiiefc Atifsaelze zur Rt:U^nsnoziidogis vol.
D) (Tubingen, 1921).

8, Cf. Chapter 1.

4 . CE Cbavaimes in the preface to his edition of Ssu-ma Ch'ien^s
truebf couceming the Pang and Chang saerlfloes, Journal Of Uw Peking
Ofiimfal Sodetp^ vol. Ill, No. I ( 1890 ).

5. Cf- also the poem ‘'Chin Vim^ of the third century. CL Conrady
in HochxrbulKrrrirmgo fiior Jedermann^ voL XIX, XX (Leipzig, 1903 ).

6. For a discussion of the begiuouigs, cf. Chapter Vll.

7. Weber s interpretative sUtumeut seems to be coiitrovcrsisL a
point to whidi Professor L. Chen of the National Otekiung Univer¬
sity, Hangchow, was good enough to draw^ my aUcjition. Professor
Cht-n (with othera, e.g., WiHiarn Edward SootbMl) transLatos die
passage of the dirgs (AnohretJ, Book WI, 34) *1 have praved for

NOTES

» 2S7 c

lopg," Arthur tniEsLition "The Msiiter said, expintiop

Ih.^uii tortg ag^r ^ iixid liiii liunolsAtJou wouJil seem to coiifiiin Webur'sa
poinh WaJey's nute reads: "^WTiat justifies me in die eyes of Heaven
IS the Hfe 1 have led. Thsr^ t? nu m^ed for antj rit^ now” In a frag¬
ment af one of the lost books of Chiiangtzu there is a parallel story in
which Tzu-lu wants to take the omens about Confucius* chance of re¬
covery, and Confucius says "My gmen-taking uw dom tong agoT
See T m F'iiig Yu Lon 84^^ fol, 1, verso. Ttte Attakets of Confvciu^,
translated and aunututed by ^\idiLir Waley (Loiidun, p. 131.

(Our TtalicSk Ed,)

S- lliis is to be found in the stenographic reports of the Clarke
papers from the military camp where equal franchise was discussed in
terms of natuml law for the first Ume in world histDjy.

0. The c.-umpass was invented utid it was used on river boat^, and by
ecuriera along the land routes uf inner Asia; book priuliug was in¬
vented and used for admintstratlve purposes to overcume the slowness
of copying in long band. Gunpowder was invented, also paper, parcf?-
Iflin^ 5 ^^ aJoberay* astronomy (used for astrological purposes of state).
Gunpowder wus utilized for mOitary^ purposes probably during the
twelfdi, certainly during the thirteenth century, in any case, one cen¬
tury before the Florentines aic credited with its use in wars* But the
Chinese used gunpowder in u ver>^ priiiutivc maniiCr. Hie pacification
of the empire simply did not sHmulate its perfection. It seem!; that the
guns of the Oecldcot were feared, in thft ^ginning ospecially because
of tiicir presumed mogicaUy-deteimined effect, and the Chinese sought
to import them. Conceruu^g the invedtious cf. W. A. P. Maidn^
^'Chinese Diaenveries in Art and SciencCi" loumal of the Fofdng
Oriental SocUdy^ voL f\\ p. ID ff.

1 rh The term Is amhigiifius, as we shall see below.

11. Tbey did so with the highly unChrbrtiau cdnclusioii that the
good in man is m artificial proditet of culture. This rejmited In n srill
greater uffiimativc emphasis on the "'w^orld*^ of ^culhiTe'* and educa-
liun than had been given to it by the oithodoK doC!tTioe+

Ona may indicate some of it^ nictsphysical assertions (cf. F. Forjcncl
in the foun^t vol. XX (1902), p, llSlf). Tlie ulcmity of

matter is asserted. Its splrfhial principle (ai-L^xi) is pantlieisticaEy con-
cewed os a principle of goodness and as pmdudng the world- Since the
eleventh century it liHS been represented by an orthndoir school of com'
mentatnra^ Ingicafiy, it iiecinsT it had little consistency- For the rest, it
iz a.s>siimed that even Coufucius believed m the astrologicaUy based
cosmogony later advocated by Ssu-ina Cb^icn (the five cleiueiits suc¬
ceed one another in the form of the early rulers}« Cfn Chavonnes in the

» 288 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

preface to vol. I of his edition of Ssu-ma Ch’ien (Paris, 1895), p.
CXLUI. Of this more below.

12. Allegedly the positional value of numbers was known in Chinese
arithmetic during the sixth century. Cf. J. Edkins, “Local Value in
Chinese Arithmetical Notation,” Journal of the Peking Oriental So-
ciety, vol. I, No. 4, p. 161 f., who traces this knowledge back to Baby¬
lon (?). This alleged knowledge remains questionable. During the
nineteenth century, as mentioned above, the abacus with balls of
local value was used.

13. Until the present, however, mathematics was included among
the nine subjects of the elective, additional examination which one
could take either to attain preferential promotion or to secure himself
against degradation.

14. According to Eitel, China Review, vol. XVllI, p. 266. T. de
Lacouperie has nevertheless maintained the Babylonian origin of
ancient Chinese civilization (Western Origin of the Ancient Chinese
Civilization, London, 1894).

(Precession of Equinoxes: “A slow change in direction of the
earth's axis and consequently westward motion of the equinoctial
points along the echptic caused by the action of the sun, moon, and
planets upon the protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in con¬
nection with its diurnal rotation;—as is so called because either equinox,
owing to its westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day
than the point it would have occupied if there were no motion of
precession and thus precedes that point continually with reference to
the time of transit . . .” —Webster s Dictionary of the English Lan¬
guage), (Ed.)

15. Cf. the Shi Luh Kuoh Kiang Yu Tschi, tr. by Michels, p. XXI
of the “Notes” to the commentary.

16. This holds also in relation to the mother. A son in drunkenness
had manhandled his scolding mother (in 1882). The mother engaged
some men, had the son put in bonds and buried ahve, in spite of the
heartfelt pleas of all participants. The men were punished because of
a formal incorrectness but they were pardoned at once. Sanctions
against the mother were entirely out of the question. (Rescript in the
Peking Gazette of 13 March, 1882.)

17. It also preceded obedience to the prince. During feudal times
an o£Bcial was ordered by a prince to seize his son because of felony.
The o£Bcial refused to do so, and the ofiBcial who was ordered to seize
the father because of his disobedience did likewise. The father then
committed suicide and tradition burdened the prince with the sin of
this misdemeanor. Tschepe, loc, cit., p. 217.

18. Cf. the request of the son of the commander of Nuichuang rc-

NOTES

» 289 «

ported in the Peking Gazette of 6 June, 1896. During the war with
Japan, the commander had been accused of cowardice and had been
degraded to compulsory labor at the mail routes in the west. The son
pleaded permission to take the punishment of his father who had fallen
sick under hardships or to pay 4,000 taels for his father’s release. The
report was passed on to the emperor with a comment pointing up the
praiseworthy piety of the petitioner.

19. The memorial underlying the rescript of 2 September, 1905,
concerning the abolition of the old "culture”-examinations is rather thin
in substance. In essence, it argues merely that the zeal for popular edu¬
cation is inhibited because everybody relies on the examination for
entitling him to a prebend.

20. Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s biography of Confucius, ed. Chavannes, p. 336.

21. ‘‘Sensuality,” inimical to all virtue, is viewed as incurable even
by the old Annals (Kun Yu, Discours des Royaumes, p. 163, takes the
form of a doctor’s statement concerning a sick prince). The conflict
between love and the interest of the state is resolved strictly in favor of
the state. The “tragedy” of this situation is poetically treated at least
once.

22. Fr. Kuhn, Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie (1914), 4.

23. See Chavannes, preface to his edition, p. XIII.

24. Edkins, “The Place of Hwang Ti in Early Taoism,” China Re¬
view, vol. XV, p. 233 f.

25. Against this cf. Pen Piao in Appendix II of Chavannes, loc. cit.

26. Journal Asiatique, vol. X, Serie 14, 1909, ed. Chavannes, pp.
33, 36.

27. Concerning him cf. Chavannes, vol. I, Appendix I, p. CCXXVI f.

28. For the Chinese, castration is an especially terrible misfortune
because of the ancestor cult.

29. The belief in immortality would not be classical. Only the belief
in spirits is meant.

30. See p. 166 of his biography of Shih Huang Ti, ed. Chavannes.

31. Praised in the inscriptions of the Han period, cited above.

32. China und die Chinesen (German by A. Schultze, 1896), p. 222.

33. Confucius is even said to have declared himself incompetent in
military matters.

34. Yu tsiaun tung kian kang mu, tr. by Delamarre (Paris, 1865),

p. 20.

35. Giles, China and the Chinese (New York, 1912), p. 105.

36. “Coerced contracts have no force for the spirits do not guard
them.” This is maintained even in earliest times, cf. E. H. Parker,
Ancient China Simplified (London, 1908), p. 99.

» 290 €

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

VII. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy
(Taoism)

1. Concerning Taoism, consult de Harlez and Legge for soiurces.
In general, see the excellent posthumous work of W. Grube, Religion
und KuUur der Chinesen and especially de Groot s Universismus Die
Grundlagen der Religion und Ethik, des Staatswesens und der Wissen^
schaft Chinas (Berlin, 1918).

2. Besides the previously cited monumental documents we may
refer to Chinese literature. Thus, the educational work of Hsiao Hsueh,
tr. by de Harlez warns against the swindles of the Buddhist priests who
seek to provide otherworldly bliss for the dead. It argues that one can
be neither useful nor harm^ to the dead for with the decomposition
of their bodies their spirits also vanish (loc, cit.. Book V, No. 86).

3. Like the Catholic Church the patrimonial institution of grace
makes the distinction here that the canonized man enjoyed—in Catholic
terms—mere “veneration” and not, like the great spirits of nature,
“adoration.” In the mind of the masses, to be sure, this distinction was
a purely formal one, in this as in similar cases.

4. Shing means Saint; i, yin mean the segregated ones; Hsien, a
sign composed of “men” and “mountain,” means anchorets.

5. Cf. de Groot s presentation in his Universismus; further, A. Gon-
rady, “China,” in Weltgeschichte, die Entwicklung der Menschheit in
Stoat und GeseUschaft, in Kultur und Geistesleben, ed. by J. von Pflugk-
Hartung (Berlin, Ullstein, 1910), vol. Ill, pp. 457-567, and the com¬
ments in Ssu-ma Ch'ien s Annals, ed. by Chavannes.

6. There are paintings which usually portray the Rishis as coarse
plebeians.

7. A case in the Annalistics concerns the minister Fan Li of the state
of Yiieh. When his king lost a city he declared that according to the
old rules he ought to commit suicide, but he did not do so. Apparently
the man later built up the enormous fortune which he had collected
as a minister through a fortunate war against the Ch'i. Later he actually
distributed his wealth among his friends and turned anchoret just as
some of the Indian ministers have done up to the present. Cf. Tschepe,
“Histoire du Royaume de Ou,” Varies Sinologiques, 10 (Shanghai,
1891), p. 157, Appendix I.

8. Tschepe, loc, cit, (sixth century b.c.).

9. De Groot argues against this in reference to the early period.

10. De Groot argues for this tradition.

11. Today one may well speak of him as a modish philosopher. We
may disregard that Lao-tzu is a semi-mythical figure, that the Too

NOTES

» 291 €

Teh Ching is strongly sxispected of containing interpolations en masse,
or that its existence is certain only at a late date. Even if Lao-tzu were
a fictitious figure the contrast of schools would remain, and that is of
exclusive interest to us here.

12. CKung means equihbrium (in English: “weak”). It is a basic
Confucian concept which in Taoism is interpreted to mean “void.”

13. Par. 30. Clf. de Groot, Religion in China (London, 1912).

14. For the following see especially de Groot who places the great¬
est emphasis upon the secondary nature of this schism.

15. De Groot, loc, cit,

16. With Wan Fei, third century a.d. Cf. de Groot, loc. cit.

17. In reference to this, see the previously cited inscriptions.

18. To be sure, this also holds for Mayana Buddhism with its bonzes
as the secular clergy. But with Buddhism the secondary nature of the
phenomenon is quite clear; with Taoism that is not the case.

19. To my knowledge the Too Tseng has not been translated; it
seems to be rare.

20. Cf. de Groot, who follows Ko Hung's Hagiography.

21. De Groot has been used for this and the usual literature. De
Groot s lecture in the Transactions of the Third International Congress
of Religions (Oxford, 1907), vol. I, was not available at the time. The
same holds for Imbault-Huart, “La l^gende du premier pape des
Taoistes et ITiistoire de la famille pontificale des Tchang,” Journal
Asiatique, Nov.-Dee., 1884, p. 389.

22. Concerning this enmity, see Chavannes about Ssu-ma Ch'ien's
treatise. Rites, vol. Ill, p. 210, footnote 1.

23. See Chavannes' preface to Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Ssu-ma Ch'ien, their
opponent, laments their ever-renewed ancestry.

24. Thus Jung Lu in 1903.

25. See the oflBcial dictionary of prebends of the Chinese state.
W. F. Mayer, The Chinese Government (Shanghai, 1878), p. 70.

26. This is the case for the above noted inscriptions of the King of
Nan Chao, ed. by Chavannes, Journal Asiatique, 9th S6rie, vol. 16
U900).

27. The developmental course and results of the borrowing of
Buddhism from India will be dealt with in the history of Buddhism;
here we shall consider only certain formal aspects.

28. We shall discuss this at the proper place. It was not the original
Buddhism.

29. See the registration of the cases in Emperor Ch'ien Limg’s Yu
chuan fung chien hang mu. For example: in 1451, fifty thousand
bonzes were ordered, in spite of the protests of the Confucians (Dela-
marre, op. cit, p. 288); in 1452, the dominant eimuch was a follower

» 292 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

of Buddha (ibid., p. 292) and hence an enemy of the “ofiBcials” (Con-
fucians); in 1481, a bonze became Grand Almonsier (p. 379), who, in
1487 (p. 385), was deposed upon the request of the officials after the
fall of an aerolite.

30. Mayer’s book of state prebends, loc. cit. The local authorities
select the shen lu ssu (superior), of whom there are two in each dis¬
trict, from the fang chang (elders) of the monasteries. The superiors
are responsible for the good conduct of the bonzes.

31. This was often maintained with reference to the former essays
on Puritanism. [The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
tr. by Talcott Parsons; “The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capi¬
talism,” in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York, 1946),
Chapter XII, pp. 302-322. Ed.]

32. This held also for orthodoxy, cf. Se Ma Tsien (Ssu-ma Ch’ien),
ed. Chavannes, vol. I, p. 196: “Heaven does not by itself send prema¬
ture death. Heaven rather adjusts to Man’s behavior.” Compare, how¬
ever, the monumental documents quoted in the beginning of Chap¬
ter II.

33. Universismus, p. 343; the book has been used here throughout,
as every reader will see.

34. De Groot, loc. cit. p. 373.

35. In view of de Groot’s book the “pan-Babylonian” thesis is no
longer likely to be maintained.

36. De Groot, Religion of China, p. 64 f. The adoration of living
men (mandarins) is declared punishable in a rescript as late as 1883
(Peking Gazette, 18 January, 1883).

37. Peking Gazette, 24 June, 1878.

38. During religious disputations between Confucians and Buddhists
the Buddhist doctrine of Karma usually was declined vnth special em¬
phasis. It was maintained that the social position of an individual did
not result from former deeds'but from fate which makes some leaves
of a tree swirl upon carpets and others upon dirt.

39. The ease with which this pride in names could turn into the
n^ed craving to live simply in order to live is obvious from the parable
of the turtle mentioned above. Its author was not a pure Confudan
but quotes Confucius with great reverence. The truly Confudan men-
t^ty, however, is not reflected in this but in Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s letters and
the memonals of the censors to the Empress Tzu Hsi, which are quoted
above.

moment the rather good doctoral thesis of Wu Chang
(Berlm, 1917) comes to my attention, a thesis which is influenced by
Herlmer, Bortkiewicz, and Eberstadt. The “Chinese Credit Associa-
bon represents a type of community bearing the usual club name

NOTES » 293 €

hwui with appropriate additions which may weU serve to illustrate the
effects.

The thesis describes the primitive structures of these previously men¬
tioned associations (Chapter I) which are fashioned to serve peasants,
small holders at that, and which depend upon the strictly personal
acquaintance of the associates.

The contributing members are selected in terms of their purely per¬
sonal trustworthiness. There are three different types of organizations;
in the simplest case, at the first meeting, all members except the first
pay to the “first member” their contributions and the current interest
on his debts, which meanwhile has perhaps accumulated through capi¬
tal use. At the “second meeting” all pay for the “second member” and
so forth down the line to the “last” member, who thus receives back
only his contributions plus interest. The sequence of the members re¬
ceiving the contributions is mostly determined by lot; if the issue is to
rehabilitate a “debtor” he is, of course, the “first member,” whereas
donators perhaps volunteer to be the “last member.” The result is that
all members placed before the last one for some time have at their free
disposal capital of varying amoimts according to their placement.

The individual member makes contributions and pays interest toward
the refunding or saving of capital. The credit association required
either a certain measure of mutual supervision or precise knowledge of
the members' ways of doing business. In its effects the association obvi¬
ously approximated the Raiffeisen Darlehenskassen system. For the
small holding peasant population with whom the banks did not do
business the credit associations substituted mortgage credit needed to
purchase land, but it could serve all conceivable ends.

In contrast to the previously described conditions of the sects (cf.
“The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism,” From Max Weber:
Essays in Sociology, Chaper XII) aside from the form, the following
were characteristic of the Chinese credit association: (1) the concrete
economic purpose was primary or rather exclusive; (2) in the absence
of the sect's qualifying examination the individual's qualification as a
possible credit-recipient had to be determined purely on an individual
basis. By the way, these credit associations may indeed serve to illus¬
trate the nature of the Greek “eranos.”

41. Piety, to be sure, could also lead to consequences which the
political authorities had to reject. In contrast to the mercantilist and
status-motivated restriction of luxury-expenditures, especially for fes¬
tive purposes, the permissible expense for funerals, in accordance with
the importance of piety as the ultimate ethical yardstick, was quite
horrendous to our mind.

42. In this connection see de Groot's temperamental pamphlet

» 294 c

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

“Sectarianism and religious persecution in China,” Verh. der. Kon, Ak.
van Wetensch, te Amsterdam, Afd. Letterk. N. Reeks, IV, 1, 2.

43. Peking Gazette, 13 January, 1874.

44. Ibid., 13 April and 31 Mardi, 1883.

45. Ibid., 2 October, 1874; for a case of an insane person subjected
to exorcism cf. ibid., 20 August, 1878.

46. We wish to emphasize that here we give only a sketch of the
relations of Confucianism and the public authorities to the sects. After
having presented Buddhism we shall have to return to the sects proper,
the most important of which go back to Buddhist influence. Cf. de
Groot s presentation in his “Sectarianism and religious persecution in
China,” loc. cit.

47. For a multitude of reasons; see de Groot, loc. cit.

48. To maintain that Islamism in China had not undergone any
change, as W. Grube occasionally points out, would seem to be some¬
thing of an overstatement. The peculiar position of the Imams has
developed since about the seventeenth centiuy and has certainly
emerged under the influence of the example given by Indian and other
Far Eastern mystagogues.

49. The name is old; we recall that the Taoist church state used the
same name.

50. The official documents of the 'Tai King Emperor were first pub¬
lished by the missionary Medhurst in Shanghai with a correspondingly
naive commentary in a missionary magazine. They appeared imder the
tide Pamphlets in and by the Chinese Insurgents of Nanking (Shang¬
hai, 1853). They comprised above all the “Book of the Interpretation
of the Divine Will”; the “Imperial Declaration of the Tai King”; the
“Book of Religious Precepts”; the “Book of Celestial Decrees”; the
so-called “Trimetrical Canon”; the proclamation against the Manchus
of 1852; the statutes concerning ceremonial and military organization
and the new calendar, which the English man-of-war “Hermes” had
brought to Shanghai. The great rebellion was often described, espe¬
cially in almost all works on China. In German the popular work of
C. Spillmann (Halle, 1900) may be mentioned. It is unfortunate that
the best expert on the history of Chinese sects, de Groot, has declined
discussing more closely the nature of the Tai King rebellion and disre¬
gards the Christian elements. These are certainly not comprehensible
in the official documents of the Manchu which are the only ones he
cautiously uses. De Groot, however, rates the missionary value low.
Hence our presentation claims but hypothetical value.

51. It is impossible for me to check the much disputed facts.

52. Essenti^y upon this depended the failure at the militarily de¬
cisive moment. Without doubt, after the communications had been cut

NOTES

» 295 €

by the occupation of the Imperial Canal and the conquest of Nanking
and the whole Yangtze valley, the destiny of the repeatedly and almost
crushingly beaten Peking government would have been sealed, and
a completely different course of history for East Asia, at least, might
not have been impossible.

53. The name of Jehova for God is found once in the ofiBcial docu¬
ments; otherwise, according to the count of the missionaries one finds
most frequently (42%) the name of the popular God of Heaven, only
half as frequently (21^) the Confucian name of Spirit of Heaven,
somewhat oftener the personalist expression of Tien fu or Tien (33%);
far less often (4%) Shin, which mosdy means ‘‘spirit.”

54. Jesus is conceived as having been married like Tien Wang. The
prophet in a vision had seen his own wife.

55. He rejected for himself the attribute of “holiness” as well as the
designation of “father.”

56. This was especially offensive to the missionaries. It did indeed
represent a concession to tradition although oflBcially any interpretation
of the ceremony as a sacrifice to or for the ancestral spirits was rejected.
The sacrifice was conceived as a sacrifice to God and, like a Ghristian
death mass, was meant to serve the souls of the ancestors.

57. “When you have money you must make it public and not con¬
sider it as belonging to one or another.” (The same holds for jewelry.)
Book of Celestial Decrees, loc. cit.

58. The accessible reports evince strong contradictions about the
details. The actual scope of state socialism remains especially obscure.
To a large degree it is, of course, to be interpreted as a war economy.
In the same way great caution is advisable when accepting the state¬
ments of the English missionaries. These have necessarily been used
and perhaps de Groot rejects them too sharply. In their zeal the mis¬
sionaries perhaps noticed more “Ghristian” elements than actually
existed.

59. The commandment of fulfilling one s vocational duty without
squinting at success should be followed because in business life, too,
success is believed to depend upon fate, not upon man: “Follow your
proper avocations and make yourselves easy about the rest.” From the
Imperial Declaration of the Tai Ping, he. cit. The author refers to
Gonfucius.

60. Loc. cit.

61. “In trade principally regard rectitude.” “In learning be careful
to live by the rule.”

62. The Book of Religious Precepts begins with the confession that
no man has lived in the world without having sinned against “the com¬
mands of Heaven.”

» 296 «

THE RELIGION OF CHINA

63. Trimetrical Canon, loc, cit.

64. Cultivation and exports of silk decreased only during the last
year of the war. Previously they had increased considerably.

65. At the last moment Palmerston gave orders to support the
“Manchu” no longer because of sharp attacks in the House; also be¬
cause he did not wish to let the Manchus get out of their awkward
situation.

66. The T’ien Wang personally and his oflBcers practiced polygamy
in the Chinese sense (concubinage).

67. Peking Gazette, 2 October, 1874.

68. The T'ien Wang s tent was called "the little Heaven.” His rejec¬
tion of attributes of holiness might very well have been disregarded by
possible successors. The ceremonial prescriptions, including titularies
of rank, were completely Chinese in character. There was, e.g., among
others, a title of "Your Chastity” (!) for high female oflBcials.

69. This holds unless one wishes to classify the festival days, avoid¬
ance of ornaments, etc., as asceticism. These, however, remained in¬
dividual postulates.

70. This sect (I ho cKiian) had emerged even at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. De Groot, Sectarianism, p. 425.

71. This sect, indeed, believed in this invulnerability. The accessible
and examined materials do not suflBce for a presentation of the sect.
It was constituted as an order, an "ecclesia militans,” only against the
foreign Barbarians. Concerning the sect see the previously cited me¬
morial to the Empress Tz’u Hsi who, like the princes, believed in the
sect's magical charisma. In the same way they believed in the magical
qualities of the Krupp cannon, cf. Peking Gazette, 13 June, 1878. In
view of these Chinese documents one is hardly permitted, in this case,
to share de Groot's doubt that heretics such as the "Boxers” had been
protected by a "Confucian” government. Cf. Sectarianism, p. 430,
footnote.

VZJ/. Conclusions: Confucianism
and Puritanism

1. In addition to the aforesaid, compare de Groot, The Religion of
the Chinese (New York, 1910), p. 130.

2. Reprinted in Chavannes' edition, op. cit. vol. Ill, Chapter XXX.

3. See the earlier discussion of "creit associations” as weak be¬
ginnings.

4. It is crystal-clear that defects of technical and inventive genius
cannot be attributed to the Chinese. The backwardness of mining (a
cause of currency crises), the failure to use coal for the production of

NOTES

» 297 «

iron (despite the alleged knowledge of the coking process), and the
increasing restriction of shipping to river traflBc in traditional forms and
along traditional routes were not due to lack of inventiveness. Fing
shui (magicians) of all sorts, prebend interests—products of magic and
the form of state—were the decisive factors.

5. Very good remarks about this are to be found in Ludwig Klages*
writings.

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

Abaelard and H^loise, 168
Achilles, 205

Acosmism: denial of the reality of
the world opposite the sole reality
and importance of God, hence de¬
valuation of the world, 212
Ad nutum amovibel: removable at
will, 32

America, 99, 250, 270
Analects, 124f.

Ancestor worship, 87, 165, 173,
213fiF., 229, 230, (ancestral spirits)
143, (ancestral temple) 115
Anchoret: one who retreats from the
world to live in seclusion; hermit,
178, 231

Anglican High Church, 221
Animism: belief in spirits presum¬
ably standing **behind” and deter¬
mining the behavior of charismat-
ically qualified natural objects,
artifacts, animals, and mem First
level of abstraction from pre-ani-
mist magical belief in extraordi¬
nary, i.e., charismatic forces, 165,
169f., 179, 194, 229
Annals, 36, 38, 41, 110, 112, 130,
140, 204

Anthropolatry: worship of men, 173,
201f., 229

Anti-chresis: a form of mortgage
contract by which the mortgagee
takes possession of the mortgaged
property and has its fruits of
profits in lieu of interest, 81
Apotheosis: deification, 173f., 193
Apotropaic: designed to ward off,
135, 196

Archery, 123, 281

Army, 25, 42, 158, 265, 269, 272,
(imder the Han) 75ff., (morale)
89, (oflBcers) 117

Art, 290, (Buddhist) 8, (Chinese)
97, 151, 198, (magic) 260, (Ren¬
aissance) 151

Asceticism: methodical abstention
from sleep, food, sexual gratifica¬
tion, etc, Weber distinguishes two
main types of asceticism: the
“other-worldly” asceticism of the
monk and the “inner-worldly” as¬
ceticism of the Puritan who lives
among the “worldly” without
being of them, 186, (and Con¬
fucianism) 229, (monachal) 206,
216, (and Protestantism) 237,
247, (of Tai P'ing) 220, 223

Assignat: inflated note issued during
the French Revolution, 7, 10

Astrology, 139, 154, 167, 196f., 207,
261

Astronomy, 196

Ataraxy: peace of mind, calmness,
188

Atharva-Veda, 108

Athens, 14, 80

Augur: an ofiBcial diviner of ancient
Rome, 110

Baal, 23

Babvlon, 196, 200, 258
Bachelor house, 24, 271, 275, 281
Benefida: feudal estates in land, 35
Billet de gdminance, 81
Boniface VIII, 26, ^8

> 298

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

» 299 €

Bonze: a Buddhist monk, 200, 216,
225, 291

Boxers, 140, 223f., 296

Brahman, 126, 135, (Guru) 108

Buddhism, 152, 155f., 159, 162,
213f., 216, 224, 225, (deities)
174, 177, 205, (function) 230,
(Mahayana) 195, 291, (masses
for tlie dead) 195, (membership)
218, (monasteries) 159, 218, (and
pacification of Mongols) 71, 217,
(persecution of) 7,159, 195, 216f.

Bureaucracy (under Ch*in and Han)
263f., (and law) 149f., (patri¬
monii) 48, 136, (and religion)
217

Burning of books, 44, 164, 204, 265

Cadi justice: administration of jus¬
tice without formal rules of law.
The judge considers each case on
its merits with regard to persons
and circumstances, 102, 149

Calendar, 108, 196, 258f.

Camorra: Itahan secret society prac¬
ticing extortion and violence, 193,
278

Canals, 20, 5If.

Canton, 15, 54, 55, (Cantonese
school of officials) 59

Capitalism: refers to different modes
M profit making. Weber distin¬
guishes modem industrial capital¬
ism with its rational capital ac¬
counting from various universally
diffused and ancient types of po-
htical capitalism oriented to booty,
fiscal, cmonial, etc., profit oppor¬
tunities, 12, 9i7, 103r., 104, 138,
149, 242, (barriers to) 199, 227,
244, (beginnings of) 231, 238,
(booty) 86, 104, (bureaucracy
and law) 103, 1^, (industrial)
151, (petty capitalism of the Mid¬
dle Ages) 20, 100, (political)
85f., 238, (rational) 85, 104, 247,
(recent) 83

Capping ceremony, 24
Caravan trade, 97
Carlyle, 239

Cartels (of princes) 162, (capitalist)
62

Caste: an Indian status group whose
way of life is not only legally and
conventionally but also ritually
sanctioned, 17, 98
Castration, 168

Casuistry: technology of dealing with
moral and/or legal questions from
case to case

Catholicism, 128, 212, 214f., 258,
260, 290, (papd Curia) 102
Cattle, 64, 271

Cesaro Papism: defined 30, llOf.,
142

Chang Ling, 193
Chang Tien Shih, 194
Chang Yang, 178

Chariot combat, 24f., 33, 37, 42, 158
Charisma: originally it is conceived
to be a magical quality of an
extraordinary person, leaaer, ruler
who claim authority and leader¬
ship on its basis. Where leadership
ana group cohesion is based on
the belief of the followers in the
alleged, presumed, or actual ex¬
traordinariness and irreplaceability
of the leader, Weber speaks of
charismatic leadership, charismatic
authority, etc., 30, 190, (and edu¬
cation) 108f., 119f., 135, (virtue
of dynasty) 140, 141,164, (heredi¬
tary): the belief in the transfer of
extraordinary endowments of a
rehmous, political, or mihtary
leader to his descendants. Weber
uses also the term "gentile cha¬
risma” with reference to such fam-
ihes, 35, 167, 264
Charity, 209

Ch'en She, leader of army revolt, 45
Chi, Spirit of Harvest, 21
Ch'ien Limg, Emperor (1736-1799),
169

» 300 «

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

Ch*ien-shui-fa s^tem: commutation
of taxes in and servitudes

into money taxes, 76
Ch m, state of, 38, 42, 70, 280
Ch m dynasty, 72, 263f.

Chinese traits (acquisitiveness 55,
243, (apoliticd masses) 134, 137,
(dishonesty) 23If., 234, 237, (dis¬
trust) 237, 244, (industry) 231,
(internalized bondage of official¬
dom) 59, (money mindedness)
125, 242, (outer not inner directed
personalitv) 232, 235, (pacifist
mentality) 114, 250, (personal¬
ism, see below) 209, (tl^t) 208,
230, 245

Chou dynasty, 22, 32, 35
Chou Li, 32, 34, 37, 116
Chrematistic: pertaining to the ac¬
quisition of wealth, 159
Christendom, 126, 177, 209, (and
Tai Fing) 219f., 222, 225, (mis¬
sionary) 219, 229, 295
Christianity (persecution of) 218f.
Chronomantics: magical belief and
practice oriented to “fortunate”
and “unforhmate” hours and
times, 196ff.

Chthonian: in or under the earth,
(chthonian mythologies) 26,

(chthonian cults) 25, 27
Chuang-tzu, 167, 178, 189, 190, 205
Chu Fu-tzu, atheist materialist, 12th
century, 23, 145
Chu-fu-Yen, 46
Chu hou, the princes, 35
Chu Hsi, author of the Chung Lun,
166

Chiin tzu, gentleman, 24, 25, 46,
131ff., 183f., 228, 244
City: a dense settlement of a large
number of households without
mutual acquaintance of the inhab¬
itants. Regular exchange of goods
in a local market is essential for
their economic life, 13ff., 16
Cleisthenes, 14

Club associations (hui) 99, 293

Compagna Communis of Genoa, 14
Competition (among officials) 59,
151, (among philosophical schools)
165, (interstate) 41, 61f., 103
Concubines, 162, see Women and
Harem

Confucianism (ju chiao) 29, 144,
152ff., 167f., 213, (cardind vir¬
tues of) 190, 228, (equality of
men) 146, (ethics) 227, 236,
(functions of) 235, (religious in¬
difference) 146, 156, (spirit of)
203, (and traditionalism) 200
Confucians (and magic) 194, 200f.,
(typical life orientation) 247, (vs.
Wang An-shih) 77
Confucius (551-478 b.c.) 28, 46, 25,
112, 113ff., 143, 154ff., 161f., 163,
168, 169, (canonization) 174,
(and Lao-tzu) 184, 189f., 207
Coniuratio, 14
Copper, 3ff.

Corporal punishment, see Sanctions
Cortegiano, courtier, 131
Corv^: servitudes, taxes in the form
of forced labor (see below) 38,
51ff., 73

Cosmogony: speculation about the
origin of the world, 154, 199f.
Cromwell, 147, 221, 222

Dalai Lama: Pontiff of Lamaism,
resident in Lhasa, Tibet, since the
sixteenth century, 45
De Groot, 165, 189, 197. 213, 217
Deities, 29, 115, 143, 174f., 177,
196, 201, 204, 214, 217, 259
Democracy, 96
D’Este, Renate, 241
Deutero Isaiah, 21

Dharma: legal and moral rules regu¬
lating the way of life of Hindu
castes in India. Each caste has its
special dharma, 152
Dies fasti et nefasH: religiously sanc¬
tioned days for legal and public
business in Rome, 109, 197
Discipline, 158

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

» 301 «

Disenchantment of the world, 226
Douceur: tip or bribe, 17

Economic determinism, 25, 61, 196,
203f., 224, 237f.

Ecstasy (apathetic) 181, 206, 233,
(emotional) 206
Edicts, 195, (Sacred) 215
Education, 46, (Chinese) 153, 187,
206, 228, 230, 246, (in Germany)
120f., 246, (HeUenic) 122, 246,
(types of) 119flF., (Vedic) 108
Egypt, 3, 16, 20flF., 24f., 37, 51, 88,
98, 135, 144, 157, 169, 234, 242
Empathy: to feel as the other does,
186

Emperor, 25, 30ff., 132, 143, 145,
147, 153, 165, 185, 187, 190, 200,
211, 212, 262

Empire (Chinese) 61, 102, 114,
137, (Holy Roman) 26, (Roman)
102, 103, 214f.

England, 51, 63, 137, 211
Ephebe: a Greek youth entering
manhood, 122
Equality, 146

Eschatolo^: teaching of last or final
things for individual or world,
e.g., judgment day, day of Yahwe,
millennium, etc., 145
Esoterics: designed for and under¬
stood by select circle of initiates,
(Confucian) 206f.

Ethics, 31, 204, 236, (acculturated)
234f., (of capitalist entrepreneur)
247, (Confucian) 229, (Puritan)
247f., (social) 209
Eucharist: a consecrated meal of a
religious community, for instance,
the Lords Supper, (tea eucharist)
220

Eunuch, 44, 46, 138f., 140, 194, 203.
266, 285f., 291f., (and Taoism)
195

Euphoria: state of emotional exalta¬
tion, 182

Europe (the great historical excep¬
tion) 61

Examinations, 282, (candidates) 163,
(degrees) 129, (economic func¬
tion of) 86, 117, (finance of) 134,
(origin) 116, (popular image of)
128, 135, (privileges) 117, (Tao¬
ist) 202f.

Exorcist (from Tibet) 214
Experiment, 150ff.

Exploitation (magical checks upon)
83

Faust, 229

FSng^shui, 199, 214, 217, 276, 297
Fetishism: belief in objects supposed
to have magical power, 174
Feudalism: politicsu structure based
upon grants or land or prebends
for military and/or administrative
services; Weber distinguishes ac¬
cordingly between two types of
feudalism, one primarily based on
fiefs, the other on prebends. The
latter type is also called ‘ pre-
bendalism,” 32, 114, 193
Feudal vassals, 47, 83. (hero) 24f.,
(hierarchy and fiefs) 37f.
Fiscalism, 88
Francke, Otto, 27, 250
Franklin, Benjamin, 244
Friendship, 162

Gabelle: salt tax, 54, 268
Gentes: sibs, (state of the Gentes)
36

Geomancer: practitioner of geo-
mancy, i.e., divination by means of
contours of mountains, shapes of
trees, rivers, etc., 195, 198, 199,
214

GQda mercatoria, merchant guild in
England, 14
Gold (0 4flF., 238
Gracchi, 68

Great Wall, 26, 51, 266
Green sprout measure of 1069, 77
Grube, W., 193, 234
Guild (of artisans) especially 14ff.,
17flF., (of bankers) 11, 18, (Co-

» 302 c

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

hong guild in Canton) 19, 285,
(goldbeaters guild of Wenchow)

17, (hui-kuan guilds) 18, (kunp
so, local craft and merchant guild)

18, 137, 210, (opium guild) 18
Guru: teacher, spiritual adviser,

father confessor, 135

Han dynasty, 208 B.C.-220 a.d., 36,
45, 53, 59, 116, 131, 164, 169,
193, 2^f., (inscriptions) 1^
Handicraft, 19, 98
Hanlin Yiian (Academy) 117, 140
Hansa: Hanseatic League, a medi¬
eval league of German merchant
guilds and trading cities, 17f.
Hantgemdl, 14

Harem, 138, 162, 195, 203, 222, 259
Hart, Sir Robert, 183^1911, Ainin-
istrator in the Chinese service
1863-1907, 54

Heaven, 26, 28f., 153, 166, 174, 193,
259, 276, 292, (god of) 201,
(hosts of) 201, (Son of) 31, 128,
212

Hellenic man, 228f., 247
Heresy, 213ff.

Heroism, 168, 207
Herolatric belief, hero worship, 229
Heterodoxy: belief deviating from
official standard (Orthodoxy), he¬
retical opinion, 199, 213
Heu tun. Emperor, 70
Hierocracy: priestly rule or influence
by means of ministering or with¬
holding grace, 142, 202, 213
Homer, 175, 205

Honor (feudal) 130, 157, 168, 176,
(Confucian sense of) 208
Hoplite: heavily armed footsoldier
of Greek Anti(^ty, 122
Hsiao (piety) defined 130, 157
Hsiao Hsiieh schoolbook, 123, 125
134

Hsiung Nu, the Huns, 7
Hsii rising, 166
Hsiin-tzu, 166

Hui, religious fraternities, 19, 99

I Li, 191

India, 100, (army) 272, (education)
111, (monasteries) 192, 224, (sib)
34, (unclean occupations) 98
Indoctrination, 214
Intaglio: an incised design on stone
or the like, depressed below the
surface of the material so that an
impression from it yields an image
in relief

Intellectuals, 173, 228, 230
Islam, Islamism, 100, 126, 134, 156,
161, 212, 219, 234, 242, (Chinese)
218, 294

Japan, 36, 120, 225
Jen Yen, 168
Jesuits, 139, 154, 221f.

Judaism, 23f., 113f., 121, 126, 155,
221, 281, (in China) 218

K'ang Hsi, Emperor (1662-1722),
author of the ‘‘Sacred Edict,” 23,
145, 195

K ang Yu-wei (1858-1927), reformer
Kohler, J. F., 101
Kshatriya (India) 111
Kuan Chimg, 190
Kuang Wu, Emperor, 117
Kubl^ Khan, 10

Kuei, evil (harmful) spirits, 28, 131

Labor (apprentice) 98, (class) 98,
(forced) 5, 51f., 71, 74, 216, 220,
238, 269, (handicraft) 83, 90, 247,
(sib and tribal crafts) 17, 19,
(despised skills) 98, 116, (market
selection of) 95
Lamaism, 217, 218
Land (distribution) 72ff., 147,

(holdings) 71, 74, (landlordism)
64f.. 73, 81flF., 86, 272, 274f.,
(obligatory tillage) 71, (pre¬
bends) 36, (reclamation) 52, 269,
(registration) 80, 267
Landlordism, 85f., 89
Language, 123ff., (and script) 279,
(and speech) 127, 246

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

Lao-tzu, 155, 162, 177, 178f., ISlff.,
191f., 201, 204

Law (fa) 16, 17, (and capitalism)
150, (codification) 80, 101, (irra¬
tionality of Chinese) 169, (natu¬
ral) 149, 210, (Roman) 81, (of
real property) 80
Legge, Tames, 124
Leonardo, 151
Levelling tendency, 83
Lex agraria of Antiouity (111 b.c.):
Roman agrarian taw opening the
ager publicus for private appropri¬
ation and investment, 73
Liberty, 147
Li Chi, 116, 212
Li Hung-chanff, 132, 268, 270
Li Pang, foimder of Han dynasty, 45
Li Ssu, migrant scholar-statesman,
legalist, chief adviser to Shi Huang
Ti, 164, 266

Literati, 41, 44, 68, 107£F., 178, 194
Literature, 95, 107f., 114, 123ff.,
164, (poetry) 52, 75, 132, 212,
(popuw drama) 135, 159
Liturgical closure of occupations:
barring entrance into occupational
groups and holding them respon¬
sible for public services and/or
financial contributions, 98
Liturgy; public expenditure de¬
frayed by wealthy citizens out of
their private fortunes. Weber clas¬
sifies states according as to
whether state finance is based
upon tax collection or liturgies,
(liturgy state) 74f.

Lung-hua sect, 223
Lu Ssu, 194
Lu, state of, 161

Machiavellism, 41

Macrobiotics: striving for long life
by magical means, 181, 191f., 196,
204

Ma^c, defined, 185,191f., 204,260f.,
(image of the world) 196flF., (and
Puritanism) 226f., (reality of)

» 303 «

155, (of script) 135, (and tradi¬
tion) 240

Manchesterism, laissez faire individ¬
ualism, 188

Manchu (dynasty) 11, 54, 71f., 141,
152, 194, 195, (garrison) 273f.,
(officials) 267, 281
Mandarin, Chinese official, 49f., 116,
135, 198

Man tic: of or pertaining to divina¬
tion, 217
Marco Polo, 10

Massa perditionis: the mass of the
lost ones (or condemned) 239
Masses (religious needs of) 173,
202, 204, 208, 217, 229, 230, 235
Matriarchy, 24

Ma Tuan-lin, thirteenth century
scholar who compiled the Wen
Shien T*ung K'ao. This work con¬
tains a wealth of information on
government, population data, etc.,
5, 254

Mefficine, 197

Meng Tzu, Mencius, social philoso¬
pher, 20, 52, 115, 124, 166, 184,
210, 214, 236

Mercantilism; system of economic
policies of Emopean despotism
especially from the sixteenth to the
eighteenth century
Mesopotamia, 20, 25, 88
Middle Realin, 33
Milk consumption, 64, 271
Ming d\Taasty, lOf., 146, 195, 284
Mir; old Russian village commune
based on periodical redistribution
of land by apportioning it to each
“soul” not to each household as
a imit of production, 88
Mjestnitshestvo: Muscovite principle
of basing social rank upon uie
Czar’s grant of military or admin¬
istrative office. The Czar compen¬
sated the officeholder with a fief.
The nobles thus were made to
compete for offices and court fa¬
vors. They failed to develop into

> 304 «

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

a cohesive status group with com¬
mon interests in the face of the
autocratic ruler, 36, 116
Mobility (of intellectuals) 111, (in¬
terstate mobility of nobles) 5, 26,
54, (mental) 112, (of ofBcials)
58f., (residential) 89, 100
Moira, defined, 207, *‘The Fates,
Daughters of Necessity,” (Plato,
Republic X)

Mongols, 7, 10, 26, 52, 68, 114, 217
Montaigne, 207
Moscow, 13

Mo Ti (Mocius) 162, 166, 210
Mou: one mou equals 7331a square
yards; 6.6 mou equal 1 acre, 69
Music, 28, 123, 145, 151, 189f., 209,
(musicians) 116

Mystagogue: leader of mystery cult,
215, 223

Mysteria: medieval religious dramas
based on Bible, 19
Mystery: a secret religious rite
(Eleusian) 204, (Hellenic) 225
Mysticism, 179ff., 181,187, 202, 212,
213, (contemplative) 183, Sufist:
a system of Mohammedan mysti¬
cism. It originated during the
eighth century, its symbolic elab¬
oration inspired poetry; ecstasy
and contemplation served the end
of gaining union with and insight
into the Divine Being, 212
Mythras mysteries, 225

Nadjel: the right of each “soul” to
his share in the Russian village
land, 71, 272
Narses, 140
Negro Empires, 33
Notables, 83

OfiBcials, officialdom, 47ff., 50, 138,
268, (age of) 37, (chaiisma of)
32, 101, 128, (cliques within hier¬
archy) 59, (competition) 59,
(and education) 122, (insecurity
of individual officials) 58f., 210,

(levelling function of) 83, (low
^nsity) 134, 267, (mobility of)
48f., 59, (prestige of) 101, (privi¬
leges of) 129, (salary of) 12, 56ff.,
1^, (unofficial aids) 49f., 101
Oikos: organization of specialized
unfree labor in large domestic
workshops of Lords. Production
for private and/or political needs
of Lords, 53, 97
Old age, 135, 178

Orgiasticism: pursuit of ecstasy
&ough intoxicants, dance, music,
etc., 27f., 230, 232, (and Con¬
fucianism) 209

Orphic: pertaining to Orpheus or the
mysteries, or secret rites of the
Dionysus cult ascribed to Orpheus,
224, 225, 229
Ossification, 61

Pacifism, Pacification, 25, 61, 103,
114, 169, (of literati) 140
P*an Ku (god of Heaven) 193
Pao Chi, 70

Paradigm: A model or pattern, 113
Paradox of unintended consequences,
238

Patriarchialism: Hereditary domestic
authority of the family head who
demands personal obedience from
the group members in the name
of sacred traditions, 32, 37, 264,
(and landlordism) 82
Patrimonialism: Type of traditional
authority. Patriarchical rule imple¬
mented with an administrative
staff, 45, 47, 56ff., 61, 133, 136,
137, 138, 164, 176, 213, (and
ethics) 234

Peasant, 36, 45, 52, 64f., 83, 162,
(and Bolshevism) 94, (tradition
in Spain) 234

Pennalism: Student rowdyism at
German universities, 129
Pentatonic music: is based on a scale
dividing an octave into five tones.
The five black keys of the piano.

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

» 305 «

e.g., would represent such a scale.
A Chinese tradition ascribes its
calculative fixation to the third
millennium b.c., 145
Peripety; A change from one state
of things within a play to its op¬
posite (Aristotle, Poetics); a turn¬
ing point, 207
Persecution, 214, 223
Personalism: Dealing with others and
with affairs in terms of primary
group contacts, 209, 223, 236f.
Petty bourgeois mass, 12
Philosophy, 127,153,165ff., (Greek)
175f.

Piety, filial: Basic for belief in patri-
archical domestic authority inter¬
nalized during childhood through
dependence on primary domestic
group. “Paternal authority and
filial piety are not primarily based
upon actual blood ties, however
normal they may be” (Weber,
Max, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft,
p. 680), 123, 158, 163f., 167, 212,
213, 232, 236, 241
Plato, 122, 160f., 175, 233
Pneuma: (Greek) term of “spirit,”
especially used in the New Testa¬
ment, 186

Police, 21, 91, 93f., 214
Polis: City state of Antiquity, 13,
15, 80, 107, 152, 175f.

Pontifex: (Latin) priest, 132, 142,
220

Population, 41, (growth) 54f., (cen¬
sus) 56, 76, (policy) 79f.
Porcelain, 5, 2^

Praefecti praetorio: The two com¬
manders of the Imperial guards,
43

Praeter legem-contra legem: Because
of the law—against the law, 88
Praver, 142, 286ff.

Prebend: Right of an officeholder to
yields from state or church lands
or from other public income.
Weber terms such officeholders

“prebendaries.” A political social
system based upon a staff of pre¬
bendaries Weber calls “prebendal-
ism,” 36, 56, 58, 59, 138, (Bud¬
dhist) 195, (goal of apsiration)
126, (for students) 117, (Taoist)
195f.

Priesthood: A special circle of cult
leaders officiating at regular recur¬
rent times at fixed places accord¬
ing to definite norms on behalf of
religious communities worshipping
God or gods, 142, 177, 194f., 201,
204

Property (private) 73f., 80, 147

Prophecy, 23, 110, 142, 202, 209,
219, 223, 229f., 235

Propriety (Li) 114,127, 156f., 162f.,
183, 228, 234

Prussian Kulturkampf: Bismarck’s
conflict with the catholic church
in the 1870 s

Puritanism, 161f., 206, 208, 226, 232,
238, (inner directed personality)
240, 244, 247, (one price system)
99, (trust) 241, 244

Qui trompe fon? who cheats whom?
Adage which according to Bis¬
marck characterized trade, 234

Rational: 1. not magical, 2. logically
consistent, 3. systematically or¬
dered, 4. in agreement witn sci¬
entific rules of evidence, 30, 240
Rationalism (bureaucratic) 95,142f.,
178, 207, (economic) 247f., (limits
to) 164, (Protestant and Con-
fucian) 226, 241f.

Rationalization (administrative) 37,
45f., 61f., (barriers to) 236f., (and
bureaucracy) 151f., (fiscal) 13,
(of law) 149, 150, (of magic)
196f., (of popular belief) 144, (in
science) 150f., (economic) 62,
(and war) 103f.

1^ 306 ^

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

Reforms, 60, 68, 134
Regalia: Kingly prerogatives, 5,
(mining and minting) 51, 65
Renaissance, 151, 237, 247
Rentier mentality, 61
Repression (Puritan and Confudan)
244

Revolution, rebellion, 60, 61f., (T’ai
Pmg) 219ff., (Western) 14, 62,
(yellow kerchiefs) 193
Rig-Veda, 108

Ritualism, rites, 107f., 167, 202, 222,
223, 270, 276

River control, 20, 64, (Huang Ho)
206

Rome, Roman (Empire) 5, 214f.,
(law) 148, 150, (nobility) 36,
146, 181

Ruach: The "spirit”; "breast of life”;
in the Old Testament especially
in connection with the spirit of
God, 22

Salvation (Christian) 210, (and Con¬
fucianism) 156, 228, (rehgions)
224, 227, 229, 233, (and Taoism)
177f., 185

Sanctions, 102, 117, 129, 170, 262,
276, 288f., (caning) 99, 129, 210
Satrap: Governor of a satrapy, a
province of ancient Persia, 48, 56
Schools, 117, 126, 129f.

Secret and secret society, 86, 133,
195

Sects, 218f., 223f.

Self-government, 16f., 91, 95
Serfdom, 66f.

Sexagenarios de ponte: Roman elders,
rule of elders, 112
Shang Ti, Emperor, 70
Shang Ti, spirit of Heaven, 22
Shang Yang, scholar statesman, 41f.,
70, 280

She, spirit of fertile soil, 21
She-chi, dual god of the peasantry,
21f.

Shen, good (useful) spirits, 28, 131

Shen Tsung, Emperor, 70
Shih Ching (hymn book) 81, 113,
163, 220, 231

Shih Huang Ti: Bom 259 B.c., Unifier
of China, called himself "Tlie First
Emperor.” He crushed feudalism
and established a new model state,
4, 36, 44, 45, 51, 54, 64, 65, 67,
68, 71, 73, 139, 164, 167, 169,
178, 179,191, 196,197,204, 266f.
Shu Ching, 35, 157, 165, 190
Shun, Emperor, 114
Sib, 17,33, 71, 86ff., 277, (cohesion)
71, ^f., 242, (elders) 89, (emer¬
gence of) 272, (and education)
129f., (feuds) 89, (Indian) 34,
(holdings) 82, (leadership) 193,
(noble) 146, (old age) 135,
(property) 89, (sanctions) 88
Silk, 5, 37, 71, 72, 97, 269
Silver, 3ff., 18
Sin, 228f., 235
Slavery, 98, 218
Socialism, 71, 211f., 295
Son of Heaven, see Heaven
Sophrosyne: Good sense resulting
from intellectual discipline and
self control, 233
Sorcerer, 30, 108, 119, 203
Sordida munera (sordid labor) 129
Soteriology: Religious teaching of
salvation and a redeemer, 177,
223, 225

Specialization, 138, 160
Squeeze, 83

Ssu-ma Ch’ien (145-85 b.c.), Con-
fucian historian, 28, 163, 166£F.,
194, 237, 285

Status group: Comprises people en¬
joying the same amount of the
same land of deference, respect, or
prestige. This prestige position
may rest on diEerences in political
or sacerdotal power, education,
wealth, military function, etc.,
(feudal) 34, (levelling) 44, (re¬
ligion) 206, (stratification) 99,
117, 119, 129, 137, 146

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

» 307 c

Stoicism (Chinese) 41, (Confucian)
149, 207, (Roman) 176f.
Successorship, 44, 114, 262
Suicide, 88, 140,169f., 208, 210, 276
Sultanism: Extreme form of Patri-
monialism, maximizing autocratic
absolutism of the ruler, backed by
bodyguard, aided by upstart fa¬
vorites (eunuchs) 44, 138, 195
Sung dynasty, 59, 70, 76
Sung K'eng, 166
Su Wen, 198

Synoecism: Process of settling in a
city. The Hellenic term ref^ to
the founding of cities by noble
families, 3

Tacitus, 176

Tael; A Chinese money of account
Tai Fing rebellions, 11, 19, 27, 54,
193, 219ff., 294

Tang dynasty (618 A.D.-904 A.D.),
65, 73, 116, 117

Tao, Taoism, Taoists, defined, 181/2;
8, 27f., 46, 142, 152, 155, 167,
181f., 185, 187, 190, 192, 194ff.,
200ff., 217, 228
Tao Mo, 140
Tao-shih, 192f.

Tao Teh Ching, 180, 185, 188, 190,
290f.

Taxes, 47, 51, 64, 269f., (collection
of)'234, (joint liability) 68, (and
land measurement) 68f., (land
tax) 53, 56, 79, 27^ (systems of)
69f., (tax farming) 85
Tea, 5, 97, 220
Temples, 22, 92f., 194
Thaumaturgist; A miracle worker, a
magician, 195
Theatre, 18, 19, 159
Theocracy: Government of a state
by experts in divinity
Theodicy, 206
Tien Wang, 219
Tolstoy, 96
Totemism, 258, 272
Traders, 196, ^4

Traditionalism, 49, 95, 138, (and
literature) 164, 205, (and mone¬
tary reform) 6, (and money econ¬
omy) 60f., 83, (and patrimonial
state) 61, 100
Tsui shui, 167

Tz u Hsi, Ehnpress-Dowager, (? -
1908), 132, 140, 194, 203, 261f.,
296

Tzu Ssu, 189, 190

Utilitarianism, 187, 241f.

Vanaprastha: Brahmanic hermit, 178
Village, 91, (commons) 65, (elders)
87

Virgin Mother, 222

Wang An-shih, scholar and states¬
man (1021 A.D.-1085 A.D.), 47,
70, 77, 93, 136f., 138, 154, 266
Wang Ch'ung, scholar (first century
A.D.), (conception of god) 22,
144f.

Wang Mang, Regent and Emperor
from 1 A.D.-23 a.d., 7, 65,140
War dance, 27,123
Warfare, 24f., 37, 40f., 103, 140,
(and finance) 68, 136, 138, (and
rationalization) 61f., Ill, see army
Warring States, 43, 62, 107, 125,
152, 165, 190, 238, 265
Wealth, 53,147,158f., 167,196, 204,
213, 237, 238, 246, (god of) 242
Wei dynasty, 80
Wei, General, 193
Wei Yang, 41
Well system, 72, 272f.

Wen Ti, Emperor, 7, 138
Wesley, John, 245
White Lotos, 195

Women, 89, 162, 203, 224, 296,
(magicians) 197, (imder Tai
Pmg) 220, 221, (widows) 89
Work discipline, 95
Wrath (ch’i) 168, 233, 240
Wu Ko-tu, 140

> 308 «

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

Wu Ti, Emperor, 4, 46
Wu Tsung, Emperor, 159
Wu-wei, defined, ISOff,

Yahwe, 23, 27, 155, 260
Yamen: Board, council, committee,
48, 59

Yang Chu, 166
Yao, Emperor, 114

Yin and Yang, 29, 131, 162, 202
Yii, Emperor, 51, 114
Yti min (stupid people) 146
Yuan Ti, 7

Zarlino, Gioseffo (1517-1590) Ital¬
ian musical theorist, musician and
composer, 151
Zeus Erkeios, 14, 22

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